National leaders try to solve metro crisis

A power struggle in the Nelson Mandela Bay coalition government was the subject of behind-the-scenes talks in Cape Town last night as DA and UDM party bosses spent hours trying to resolve an impasse that brought the council to a standstill last week.

The inter-party meeting ended late last night, but no statement was issued.

DA federal executive chairman James Selfe said the party’s leader, Mmusi Maimane, would give a report back on the meeting today.

The intervention by party bosses followed a dramatic deadlock between mayor Athol Trollip and his deputy, Mongameli Bobani, over the hiring and firing of senior managers in the metro.

The fallout was about Johann Mettler’s appointment as city manager and the contract extension for acting corporate services head Vuyo Zitumane.

Bobani wants Mettler fired and his job readvertised, backing Eastern Cape Cooperative Governance MEC Fikile Xasa, who advised the municipality to do so.

Bobani also disagrees with a proposal to extend Zitumane’s contract.

Weeks of simmering tensions between Bobani and Trollip finally played out in council last week, with the UDM staying away from a meeting, leaving its coalition partners in the lurch.