MEC Xolile Nqatha to push for Bay council to be dissolved
Eastern Cape co-operative governance and traditional affairs MEC Xolile Nqatha will approach the province's executive council to ask that the Nelson Mandela Bay council be dissolved.
However, he said this would depend on council's response to why he should not place the city under administration, due in seven days.
The letter giving seven days for reasons was sent on Tuesday.
In a statement on Friday, Nqatha said the metro had been without a mayor for seven months, something he said was not in the interest of good governance.
Nqatha said he intended to recommend to the provincial executive committee that Section 139(1) of the Constitution be invoked, which would see the city placed under administration.
Pressed on which part of the 139 (1) clause he was referring to, Nqatha told HeraldLIVE: "It is my intention to approach the provincial cabinet for section 139 (1)(c)".
This deals with the dissolving of the council and appointing an administrator to run the municipality until a fresh municipal election is held within three months.
Deputy mayor, Thsonono Buyeye has been acting mayor since UDM councillor Mongameli Bobani was ousted through a no confidence motion during a December 5 council meeting in 2019.
Nqatha said legal provisions for the municipal council to elect an acting mayor were not designed to be perpetual.
"For the metro to have had an Acting EM [executive mayor] since December 2019 cannot be in the interest of good governance.
“The intention to intervene in the metro is occasioned by the urgent need to instill a culture of respect for the rule of law and good governance.
"The interests of good cooperative governance are paramount to our intentions to support and assist one another in mutual trust and good faith to safeguard the well-being of the people of the metro,” Nqatha said.
On the appointment of housing director Mvuleni Mapu's as acting city manager, Nqatha said: ."[He] is unqualified to act as a municipal manager because currently he occupies a position that is below that of managers who are accountable directly to the manager," he said.
The decision to appoint Mapu was endorsed during a June 29 virtual council meeting, with 31 councillors voting in favour of his appointment.