Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Mongameli Bobani survived an attempt by the ACDP and COPE to remove him from office on Friday.
The motion was not even debated as councillors of the new coalition government refused to allow ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom to table it.
Grootboom’s motion called for Bobani to be removed from office amid allegations contained in a Hawks affidavit that he was paid about R664,000 by Heerkos Projects, a company accused of siphoning off money meant for the city’s Integrated Public Transport System.
It was followed by another motion from the DA which sought to persuade the council to give the city manager authority to write off interest accumulated over the past two months on services bills that were not sent out to residents.
Introducing the motion against Bobani, which was submitted as one of exigency, Grootboom said the matter was urgent as Bobani was the first citizen.
ANC councillor Andile Lungisa said the ANC opposed the motion and that “allegations remain allegations until proven otherwise”.
Responding to the motion, ANC councillor Gamalihlei Maqula urged coucillors to allow the law to take its course.
“I would like to remind the council about a case against myself in 2016, and I would like to remind the council about the matter involving a car driven by a close protection officer that [allegedly] implicated [DA councillor Nqaba Bhanga], who was at the time an MMC – no-one tabled a motion for him to be removed,” Maqula said.
United Front councillor Mkhuseli Mtsila said: “This is purely a Herald trial by media.
“This was written in The Herald and the UDM has requested the Herald to give over the affidavit.”
The majority of councillors from the ANC, EFF, UDM, United Front and AIC voted against debating Grootboom's motion.
The motion on the billing problems was held over for discussion at another time.