Fihla dashes off a speech that leaves councillors in stitches

MAYOR Ben Fihla’s latest blunder is a real doozie.

During a full council meeting on Tuesday, Fihla was reading from his speech supposedly announcing an interim replacement for sacked councillor Thembinkosi Mafana.

But instead of the name of the would-be acting incumbent, his speech writers had typed “–– –”.

The council erupted in laughter when the mayor, seemingly oblivious, read: “I am now appointing dash dash as a caretaker portfolio chairperson.” This new “oopsie” adds to a string of cringeworthy moments in Fihla’s two years in charge of Nelson Mandela Bay – from blithely reading out poorly written speeches to misunderstanding basic council rules.

Fihla’s speech on Tuesday was also riddled with grammatical and spelling errors – words such as “assess” were instead written as “access”.

But the councillors present were much kinder to him than the mourners at Umhlobo Wenene DJ Saba Mbixane’s memorial service, who booed Fihla when he read a speech in English to a staunchly traditional Xhosa audience at a packed Nangoza Jebe Hall in New Brighton last month.

-Rochelle de Kock