The ACDP will attempt a fresh bid to oust Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Mongameli Bobani at the next council meeting through a motion of no confidence.
It comes less than two weeks after its last attempt to remove the mayor through a motion of exigency failed.
In his no-confidence motion, ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom called for Bobani to be removed from office after The Herald revealed on Monday that the mayor was being investigated by the Hawks for alleged fraud and contravening the Municipal Systems Act.
During the November 2 council meeting held in Despatch, Grootboom tabled a motion of exigency and said the matter was urgent.
At the time, his motion called for Bobani to be ousted amid allegations contained in a Hawks affidavit that payments of about R664,000 were made to him by Heerkos Projects.
On Tuesday, Grootboom said the serious allegations against Bobani could be detrimental to investor confidence in the metro.
“It will have a very negative impact on our city, especially the poor, if councillor Bobani continues to hold the position of executive mayor,” he said.
He called on the ANC, EFF, AIC and UF to put the interests of the people of the city before the interests of their parties and not allow the municipality to be embarrassed by Bobani’s possible arrest for corruption.
“If the ANC, EFF and AIC continue to protect councillor Bobani from dealing with the allegations of corruption, they will become tarnished by this potential corruption.”
Meanwhile, cracks within the new coalition have begun to surface.
While AIC secretary-general Mahlubi Jafta refused to single out any of the parties, The Herald understands the United Front and AIC were frustrated by the “unilateral decisions” taken by the ANC and UDM.
“Some parties are not satisfied within the coalition and there was supposed to be a meeting so they could resolve this,” Jafta said.
“There have been complaints that certain parties are not consulting [coalition partners] before they take decisions.
“In a situation such as that, each and every party must consult those in the coalition when making decisions with council-related matters, especially when it comes to jobs.”
Last week, a letter supposedly written by regional leaders of the AIC, EFF and United Front stated that the political leadership of the black caucus had met and resolved to support the “position of the AIC to file a motion of no confidence” against council speaker Buyelwa Mafaya and chief whip in council, Bicks Ndoni.
The EFF, however, distanced itself from the letter.
Jafta said he was told of the letter but the AIC had no intention of submitting the motions.
United Front regional secretary Mgcini Mejane said some coalition partners felt neglected but there had been engagements among the parties.
Last Thursday, United Front councillor Mkhuseli Mtsila said should the AIC submit the motions, he had been given a mandate to support them.
“Conditions have been put that there are matters that need to be resolved before [the next council meeting]. If they are not, then we’ll support it [motion],” Mtsila said.