Political parties in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro petitioned the speaker of council on Tuesday, February 18, for an urgent meeting on March 12 in order to elect a new mayor, among other important issues.
The DA’s leader in the Eastern Cape, Nqaba Bhanga, was joined by Siyasanga Sijadu from COPE and the UDM’s Luxolo Namette, as well as the DA caucus-leader, Jonathan Lawack, when he announced this move at a press briefing on Tuesday.
Sijadu said the special council meeting would have to deal with the election of a new executive mayor, removal of the current deputy executive mayor and the appointment of a replacement.
Additionally, the meeting will have to address the removal of the speaker, as well as the appointment of a new speaker of council.
Also on the agenda for the meeting is the appointment of a new chief whip and the removal of Section 79-committee chairpersons.
Sijadu said that this petition comes after two months of a leadership vacuum in the running of the municipality. “It has resulted in zero direction and accountability of not only municipal officials, but also the political heads of the various departments.”
Sijadu added that the parties that signed the petition, that also include the United Front and ACDP, believe that the removal of the current leadership and election of a new one, will bring about a necessary turnaround and better service delivery.
Bhanga made it clear that the metro cannot be leaderless and that these issues had to be addressed no later than March 12.
He also mentioned that national leadership still had to compile a list of the candidates they will be nominating for the respective positions.
“Not having a leader in the municipality is an abnormality. We do not have a chief whip for instance. You need to have a person at the head of an institution, especially during this difficult time when we have a water crisis and lack of spending,” Bhanga said. “In this city, we have spent less than 20% of the budget, as a result of being leaderless,” he added.
Namette, whose party has had a rocky relationship with the DA in the past, said that the signing of the petition didn’t mean the parties would be working together.
“It simply says that we see a need for new leadership. As the UDM we cannot sit back and fold our arms while things in the metro are going wrong,” he said.
“A ship without a captain is a sinking ship and it’s going nowhere. Therefore we’ve decided to join these political parties to ensure that the new leadership that will take the metro forward, is elected on March 12,” he added.
The Speaker of Council, the ANC’s Buyelwa Mafaya, said that she had received the petition and that it would be discussed during a multi-party meeting on February 26, one day before the scheduled normal council meeting.
“During this meeting we will discuss the next day’s council meeting.
“Other issues will also be discussed – among these, the petition,” Mafaya said.
