EFF, ANC ‘protecting Van Niekerk from accounting for his actions’

Three months since the Nelson Mandela Bay council appointed an ad hoc committee to probe whether mayor Gary van Niekerk breached the code of conduct, little progress has been made as parties bicker over who should chair the meetings, with the EFF and ANC not pitching for the last sitting.

DA councillor Rano Kayser said the continued absence of the two parties meant the committee could not summon Van Niekerk to account.

“We have had seven meetings since the committee was formed but they have only attended about two meetings,” he said.

“The absence of the EFF and ANC is a deliberate attempt to protect the mayor from accounting for his actions.

“He must be granted an opportunity to air his side because no committee can say before the end that any person is innocent or guilty without that,”  Kayser said.

The committee was elected during a November council meeting.

It was tasked to investigate allegations that Van Niekerk hired the services of law firm Boqwana-Burns Incorporated in 2022 at a time when his positions as a councillor and speaker were up in the air.

The Hawks are also investigating the matter.

According to Kayser, he was elected to chair the committee through a nomination by the UDM which had the support of the ANC.

All parties that make up the committee — which includes the EFF (2), ANC (2), DA (2) and UDM (1) — were in attendance.

UDM regional spokesperson Bulelani Bobotyane said Kayser was elected at the meeting.

Kayser said: “It’s safe to assume after they reported the outcome of the meeting, their political bosses were not comfortable and since [then] there have been strategies and tactics to frustrate the working of this committee.”

Kayser said he would seek intervention from co-operative governance MEC Zolile Williams.

“I will escalate the conduct of the relevant councillors officially to the speaker and the MEC for the necessary actions in terms of the code of conduct for councillors and also submit a formal report to the MEC,” he said.

The EFF has, however, continued to deny that Kayser was elected chair.

“No committee can sit without a secretariat present,” EFF councillor Khanya Ngqisha said.

Kayser said the party expected council speaker Eugene Johnson to have reported to the council in December on what happened and why it had failed to meet.

“We raised it in [the December] meeting, however our motions were suppressed like others.’

Despite initially saying he would respond to an inquiry regarding the absence of the ANC, regional deputy chair Siphiwo Tshaka could not be reached again by the time of publication.

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