Former mayor Mongameli Bobani hints at reinstatement

A confident Mongameli Bobani told his Twitter followers on Thursday he would be returning as mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay.

Bobani was responding to a tweet about power outages in KwaNobuhle when a user asked him in what capacity was he responding to the service delivery complaint.

He then replied that he was someone who was “about to be reinstated or incoming executive mayor”.

Bobani was ousted as mayor of the metro during a December 5 council meeting that saw his coalition partners the ANC, AIC and PA vote in favour of his removal. The United Front was the exception.

The motion was tabled by DA councillor Morne Steyn and seconded by ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom.

On Thursday, DA leader John Steenhuisen and UDM president Bantu Holomisa confirmed the parties had held a “talks-about-talks” meeting in Johannesburg, but nothing had been decided on.

Taking to Twitter hours after meeting with the DA, Holomisa revealed that he had been contacted by ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule for a meeting.

He wrote: "#ANC requests a meeting with #UDM. Further to the future of #NMBM and party discussions, the UDM will meet the ANC on 21 Jan 2020 in Jhb, as per the request by its Secretary General.”

Bobani reacted to the tweet, saying: “My removal must be haunting them”.

The UDM and DA have been on opposite sides of the fence in the Bay since May 2017 when then DA mayor Athol Trollip fired Bobani from his position as deputy mayor.

Discussions on who will take control of the Bay have intensified in the last week, with all nine of the Bay’s parties thrashing out coalition options.

None of the parties have made a definite decision yet as to how they will align themselves to form a new government.

With a council meeting scheduled for January 30, there is a small window of opportunity for decisions to be made.