Bay ANC Youth League wants city council dissolved

The ANC Youth League in Nelson Mandela Bay has called on the provincial government to place the municipality under administration with immediate effect.

In a statement released on Sunday, following its regional executive committee meeting two days prior, ANCYL regional secretary Luyolo Nqakula said they were concerned about what they termed instability within the Bay council.

The metro is run under a coalition government made up of the UDM, ANC, AIC and United Front. It governs with the support of the EFF in the council.

In the statement, Nqakula accused mayor Mongameli Bobani (UDM) of being "useless" and "ignorant" of the realities facing residents of the Bay.

"Our Mayor is nothing short of a joke and [he] has no political, theoretical, philosophical or ideological clarity to back up his work.

"We therefore resolved that on making a clarion call to the provincial executive of government to put this municipality under administration as well as remove the illegitimate [acting] city manager Peter Neilson and not allow any party to claim hegemony over the governance of the municipality," Nqakula said.

In an interview, Nqakula said the Youth League was on record saying that they wanted the city's council dissolved.

"We are of the view that an election re-run is one of the mechanisms that can be used to bring institutional stability in the metro," Nqakula said.

Responding to the ANCYL's statement, the UDM's Youth Vanguard provincial chair Luxolo Namette labelled the statement "amaturish".

"It must be noted that in Nelson Mandela Bay there is no Youth League except for a few individuals who serve their personal interest.

"Last but not least, we warn the so called Youth League to stop insulting our leader and focus on building their league if there is still hope for resurrection," Namette said.