One in two young people are out of work in Nelson Mandela Bay‚ and that’s a scenario that new Executive Mayor Athol Trollip wants to improve. “We have a lot of work to do here in Nelson Mandela Bay‚ and it starts right here‚ right now‚” he told his inaugural council sitting. His plan to create jobs includes a focus on the tourism and agriculture sectors as well as attracting investment through stable political governance. “In order to facilitate investment into the Bay we will establish a ‘One Stop Shop’ for all business related municipal queries and applications. The objective of such a service would be to cut red tape and reduce the turnaround time of applications to the municipality that currently serve to impede economic growth and job creation‚” he said.Small business development would be crucial‚ he said.“A focus on SMMEs is critical to any successful jobs plan. I have personally witnessed the struggles of too many small business owners who are not getting the support they require to climb the ladder of opportunity. Given the right support small businesses have the influence to empower and employ while providing freedom and opportunity to thousands of residents.”In order to closely monitor and evaluate our commitment to job creation‚ Trollip said he would be establishing a jobs desk in the Mayor’s office to ensure that jobs tops his daily agenda.“This desk will facilitate queries and process applications for municipal bursaries as well as open a channel to incentivize businesses to employ first time job seekers; every possible avenue in this regard will be explored including the possibility of introducing a youth wage subsidy. We cannot continue bleeding the best young minds from this city to other growth and opportunity destinations elsewhere in the country.”Corruption would also receive top priority‚ the Democratic Alliance leader pledged.“There will be no more erosion of municipal resources due to corruption procurement practices. There will be no more wasting of our resources on the glitz and glamour of irrelevant pubic events‚ flashy cars and wasteful expenditure on cadre deployment.“Any official or public representative found to be operating outside the rule of law will be charged and will have to account for their actions or derelictions in the relevant courts of law or within the municipal disciplinary structures.”He reiterated that officials who do not hold the prerequisite qualifications for the job they are in‚ or who were appointed irregularly‚ “will have their appointment carefully scrutinized and if found to have been appointed outside the ambit of the law‚ will have such appointments terminated”.The Bay would work with National Treasury on cleaning up the city’s finances‚ he said.“Political instability in this Metro has rendered this city moribund and unresponsive. It is time to lock the revolving doors of corruption‚ cadre deployment and cronyism and bring about a new model of administration by this multiparty government that will eschew the blight of such practices and that ushers in a model of good government…‚” Trollip said...