An administration on the brink of collapse, millions of rand withheld by the National Treasury and a deadlock between the provincial and local governments have prompted Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane to file a counter application for permission to intervene in the affairs of the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality.

Should the directives set out by Mabuyane and co-operative governance MEC Xolile Nqatha not be implemented, placing the city’s municipality under administration could be the next step...