Election of new mayor on Nelson Mandela Bay council agenda

The election of a new mayor is on the agenda for the next Nelson Mandela Bay council meeting on August 13.

DA councillor Nqaba Bhanga said speaker Buyelwa Mafaya had kowtowed to pressure to place the item on the agenda.

“Though the DA welcomes this decision, we will continue with our urgent application in the Port Elizabeth High Court.”

The DA submitted an urgent application in the high court on Friday in a bid to compel Mafaya to call a council meeting.

The court action will be heard on August 11 and comes after the party’s letter to Mafaya last week went unanswered.

The letter requested that she call an urgent council meeting for Monday to elect a new mayor, appoint a qualified and competent acting city manager and address concerns raised by the National Treasury.

“The DA launched the urgent application to have the court compel the speaker to call a council meeting to elect a mayor, appoint a qualified and competent acting city manager, and address the concerns of National Treasury,” Bhanga said.

“The meeting must also discuss the letter from Eastern Cape MEC for co-operative governance and traditional affairs, Xolile Nqatha, to the self-styled interim mayor, Thsonono Buyeye, wherein he states his intention of placing the metro under administration,” Bhanga said.

Nqatha received a thumbs up from the province’s executive council when he asked that the Nelson Mandela Bay council be dissolved.  

This after the metro had been without a mayor for seven months, something he said was not in the interests of good governance.

Buyeye has been acting as mayor since the UDM’s Mongameli Bobani was ousted in December.

Nqatha recommended to the provincial executive committee that Section 139(1) of the constitution, which would see the city placed under administration, be invoked.

However, Bhanga said they would not allow the city to be placed under administration.

“We will continue to fight to save our city from the ANC-led coalition of corruption.

“The DA will also not allow the provincial ANC government to illegally dissolve the council and use this opportunity to loot what’s left in the city’s coffers,” he said.

“We will also be seeking punitive costs against the speaker.

“The DA will continue with the application to ensure that all the issues we have highlighted are addressed in council, and to prohibit the speaker from withdrawing these items from the agenda or postponing the council meeting.

“We remain committed to taking Nelson Mandela Bay forward again,” he said.

- HeraldLIVE