GQEBERHA - The new mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay, Gary van Niekerk, says he's ready to hit the ground running.
His priorities are delivering services to communities and fighting crime.
He says electricity, crime and underspending are issues plaguing the metro.
READ: Northern Alliance’s Gary van Niekerk elected new Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor
Van Niekerk said, “I mentioned the other day that in this metro we have a couple of disasters.”
"One is the electricity crisis that we are all suffering under. Two, is the water crisis; we've had some nice rain in the last couple of weeks but also resulted in people's homes being flooded which was then a disaster on its own. But we were able to deal with that as well."
"The third crisis is the crime. It is indeed a crisis."
"And then the fourth crisis is the underspending, which I mentioned in my speech. Constant monitoring, evaluation, that is the foundation to holding us accountable."