MBDA board gets nod to be paid for meetings
Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA) board members will now be paid for holding meetings after getting the go-ahead from the Nelson Mandela Bay council on Thursday
This was one of nine items the DA and its coalition partners – COPE, the ACDP and the Patriotic Alliance – rammed through as opposition party members shuffled out of the chamber after a disagreement over how speaker Jonathan Lawack was presiding over the meeting.
The coalition government pushed through a new ambush marketing by-law that would see businesses and individuals who erect branded signage at events hosted or co-hosted by the city fined up to R10 000 or be jailed.
Other items were the city’s long-term growth plan, a report on the state of readiness of the Integrated Public Transport System (IPTS) and a review of the investment incentive policy, among others.
The EFF said it would challenge the approval of the nine items as the councillors voted while the opposition was walking out.
City manager Johann Mettler said that a simple majority – which means the majority of the total number of councillors in the chamber at the time – was all that was needed to pass the items. There had to be at least 61 councillors in the room.
EFF councillor Zilindile Vena said as far as the party was concerned, none of the items had been passed. “When we reconvene the meeting we will start where we left off.
“According to us, the speaker collapsed the meeting just as the mayor was about to table his report,” Vena said.
Mettler maintained the items were passed within the confines of the law.“There can be any number of councillors who vote on the items as long as there is a quorum – the items did not need a special majority,” Mettler said.
He said the remuneration of MBDA board members was not a budget item and did not need the vote of 61councillors.
The budget for the remuneration of board members was approved with the adjustments budget last month, and the item in the agenda yesterday pertained to amending the Memorandum of Incorporation and authorising the payments.
Council’s approval means that sub-committee members on the MBDA board will be paid R4 000 per meeting, sub-committee chairmen and chairwomen will be paid R6 000, board members will be paid R7 500 and the board chairman will be paid R10 000 a sitting.
The board chairman may not be paid more than R40 000 a month.
Until now, board members served on the board on a voluntary basis.
The councillors also passed an item on the plan to overhaul the way the city does business through the establishment of an investment hub called “Bay Grow”.
The meeting was then adjourned to Wednesday after a quorum could not be reached.
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