The fate of city boss Johann Mettler will be decided by the Nelson Mandela Bay council today.
Allegations of misconduct against Mettler, by UDM councillor Mongameli Bobani, will be debated behind closed doors, with the councillor planning to push for Mettler’s suspension.
If he succeeds, the council would, however, first have to agree that Mettler be served with a notice of intention to suspend him.
Mettler would then be given an opportunity to explain why he should not be suspended.
Bobani’s accusations range from claims Mettler unlawfully extended the contract of communications firm Mohlaleng Media, to allegations that he irregularly hired and suspended senior staff and misappropriated municipal funds on the city ’s new accounting system.
He wants Mettler suspended while his allegations are probed through a forensic investigation.
With the numbers evenly split between the coalition government and opposition parties, the decision could go either way.
The coalition – the DA, COPE, ACDP and Patriotic Alliance – have 60 seats in the council, while the opposition has 59 following the conviction and sentencing of ANC Ward 20 councillor Bongo Nombiba.
The coalition will, however, be one councillor short today, as DA councillor Dean Biddulph is out of the country.
Should all coalition partners decide to reject Bobani’s motion, speaker Jonathan Lawack could save Mettler with his casting vote.
But if Patriotic Alliance councillor Marlon Daniels – who is unpredictable – decides to support Bobani and other opposition parties, or even abstain from the vote, Bobani could get his way to kick-start the process of having Mettler suspended.
Daniels, despite being a coalition partner, did not support the adoption of the city’s budget on the municipality’s first three attempts, saying it did not cater to the poor in the northern areas and townships.
He eventually supported it at the fourth attempt.
Asked yesterday if he would support Bobani’s bid to get rid of Mettler, Daniels said he would go to today’s meeting with an open mind.“It ’s within councillor Bobani’s rights to lodge complaints . . . and I agree that it is protocol for such to be before the council.
“But we’re interested to hear the view of all other parties. As the PA, we’ll reserve our opinion until the allegations have been thrashed out.
“We can’t enter the council with preconceived ideas and judgment,” Daniels said.
Bobani said he was confident all parties would support his motion for the allegations against Mettler to be tested.
“I will move for him to be suspended with immediate effect to be able to look at all those allegations against him. All parties will support me, I’m confident,” Bobani said.
DA chief whip of council Werner Senekal said: “I’m not pre-empting a debate that’s confidential or revealing caucus decisions.”
ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom said he would not discuss the matter as it was a confidential council item.
COPE councillor Siyasanga Sijadu said she would not support Bobani’s plan.
United Front councillor Mkhuseli Mtsila said he would support a process to test the validity of Bobani’s allegations as they were “very serious”.“I would support a process that leads to an investigation of the allegations,” Mtsila said.
ANC caucus leader Bicks Ndoni said the ANC councillors would apply their minds to all information presented to the council.
“We should allow due process to unfold and look at the allegations. We don’t want to be investigators ourselves.
“I don’t want to pre-empt the process. We will go with an open mind and listen and evaluate,” Ndoni said.
AIC councillor Thsonono Buyeye said the allegations were unsubstantiated at this stage.
“I would love to have more information of what councillor Bobani is saying and we would want proof.
“The allegations sound serious and they can’t be ignored.
“So, I would need more information before I can make a decision,” Buyeye said.
EFF councillor Zilindile Vena said it would make a decision after it had seen the response from Mettler.
“We will listen to both sides of the story and then we will take a decision.”
– Additional reporting by Siyamtanda Capa