Nelson Mandela Bay’s new coalition government sets out priorities for 'broken metro', prepares for a battle

Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security Lawrence Troon has said that he was sabotaged by the municipal manager in carrying out his plans to stamp out crime in the metro.(Photo: Deon Ferreira)

By Estelle Ellis

29 Sep 2022

A new multiparty coalition in Nelson Mandela Bay that managed to boot out the ANC-led coalition of Executive Mayor Eugene Johnson last week has set out its priorities to ‘get the city working again’, giving a damning analysis of a broken metro.

Water, electricity, houses, improving services to the poor and better roads are high on the list of a new coalition government that has taken control of the notoriously politically unstable Nelson Mandela Bay.

Led by the new executive mayor, the Democratic Alliance’s Retief Odendaal, the coalition government on Thursday set out its priorities for the city.

Last week, during a chaotic council meeting that included an attempt to remove a ballot box by one councillor and ran into the early hours of the morning, a vote of no confidence against the then executive mayor, Eugene Johnson, succeeded and a new multiparty coalition led by the DA was put in charge.

It is unclear how long this coalition will last, especially as the former MEC for cooperative governance Xolile Nqatha had started a process to change the municipal system in Nelson Mandela Bay to do away with the executive mayor and introduce one where the big parties in the metro govern collectively based on the number of votes they had received.

If the system changes, the ANC will be able to return to the government of the city as it holds the same number of seats as the DA in the council.

Odendaal said that he did not want a fight with the new MEC, Zolile Williams, but he will see him in court if engagements on the issue fail.

“His approach to proceed is nonsensical,” Odendaal said. He said while the previous administration under Johnson was described by Nqatha as lawless and chaotic, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs had refused to intervene by placing the metro under administration despite several requests by the DA.

Odendaal said all the concerns raised by Nqatha in his motivation for a system change, which is being continued by Williams, had since been addressed.

Among the issues highlighted at the press conference on Thursday was that despite the fact that the city is facing a water crisis, the water and infrastructure committees, which were meant to provide oversight over the metro’s handling of the drought, had not sat once since November last year.

Odendaal said it was his intention to bring back political and administrative stability to Nelson Mandela Bay.

Mayor Retief Odendaal (middle), Speaker Gary van Niekerk (left) and deputy mayor Khusta Jack (right) at the new coalition government's inaugural press conference in Nelson Mandela Bay, Eastern Cape. (Photo: Deon Ferreira)

Early morning calls

The super-energetic mayor has phoned his mayoral committee members early in the morning to discuss plans.

“I got a call early this morning from the mayor,” the MMC for Human Settlements, Tukela Zamani from the Defenders of the People (DOP), said. “My first thought was that I have arrived.”

Councillor Rano Kayser, the MMC for constituency services, said he was proud of his staff who were hard at work establishing ward committees, even after 5pm.

Gary van Niekerk, from the Northern Alliance, the biggest of the small parties in the council, said they were happy to be part of the new coalition government.

“Officially, this is the new dawn,” he said. “We have been in meetings to find common ground and I am happy to say that we are 99% there.”

Van Niekerk retained his position as Speaker after he and his two fellow councillors were barred from the council when they were kicked out of their own party. This was reversed by the high court, as was the decision by the city manager, Noxolo Nqwazi, to declare their seats vacant.

Van Niekerk said he hoped councillors would behave themselves from now on. “I am looking forward to making people proud about how we behave,” he said. “I hope the worst is behind us. We are buying into the philosophy of the executive mayor.”

The Abantu Integrity Movement founder and leader and now also the chairperson of Mmusi Maimane’s Build One South Africa, Khusta Jack, who has been appointed as the coalition government’s deputy chairperson, said he believed they had assembled a perfect team.

“We have a team led by a doer, not a theorist,” he said. “This is a team of builders.” He said his party endorsed the coalition’s plan to rebuild Nelson Mandela Bay.

The Freedom Front Plus’s Bill Harrington, who was elected as the council’s chief whip, said he had no doubt that this would be a progressive government that takes responsibility.

The new mayoral committee also includes Lance Grootboom from the ACDP, Luxolo Namette from the United Democratic Movement, Dries van der Westhuyzen, Kabelo Mogatosi, Annette Lovemore, Rano Kayser from the DA, Bassie Kamana from the PAC, Lawrence Troon from the Good Party and Thsonono Buyeye from the African Independent Congress.

Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security Lawrence Troon. (Photo: Deon Ferreira)

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The priorities

Odendaal said their priorities were to “secure the water supply to the city, mitigate the impact of load shedding, protect and refurbish critical infrastructure, deliver basic services across all communities, enforce by-laws and partner with businesses to grow our economy.

“We also need to put plans in place to proactively address the scourge of gender-based violence, and support and encourage youth development programmes that offer alternatives to gangsterism.”

He said they would work towards making sure the audit and forensic units are fully staffed and that all critical vacancies are filled.

“I want to make it abundantly clear that this leadership will not tolerate any form of corruption. To this end, we will be filling all vacancies within the Internal Audit Division and will be working on improving our turnaround time in dealing with internal forensic investigations and ensuring that swift and harsh action is taken against those found to be involved in corruption of any kind.”

He said water leaks, despite being addressed a few months ago, were increasing in numbers again, that the system to address the city’s water leaks was not good enough, and that additional steps would need to be taken. “This includes putting systems in place to allow for fixing leaks at a ward-based level, appointing additional plumbers and partnering with the private sector.”

Mogatosi said while politicians are usually given 100 days to get going on their work, he only had 60 as they wanted the city to be ready for visitors during the festive season.

He will be creating a centralised pothole database.

“This database will show the location of the pothole, as well as when the pothole was fixed and by which municipal staff member or contractor, to ensure that potholes are repaired correctly,” he said.

“We will also be fast-tracking the backlog in erecting signage posts, signage, and painting of speed humps, and will be implementing a 24-hour turnaround standard for the repair of accident-damaged traffic lights.”

The MMC for safety and security, Lawrence Troon, from the Good Party, who served in the same position under Johnson, said they had been praying for a new dawn. “I believe this is it.”

He said it was a misconception that the political instability in the metro had been caused by the smaller parties.

“I don’t see why this coalition cannot last. I will expose those who are disruptive,” he said. “We are not here to make friends. We are here to govern.”

He said that he failed to carry out plans to make the city safer while working under Johnson as he had been “sabotaged” by the city manager.

Very unstable

The new cooperative governance MEC, Williams, who was a widely respected municipal manager before entering politics, said the new coalition government was very unstable.

“There is no focus on the delivery of services but instead on political party interests.” He said the coalition remained unregulated as it was nothing more than a “gentlemen’s agreement” and unenforceable.

“Ideological orientation will come into play and that will be very destabilising.”

He said the amendments proposed by his predecessor were the best chance for the municipality to bring about stability. “There is respect for voters in the [proposed] new system,” he said.

He said he would engage with Odendaal and other council leaders and “hear them out.”

“We will listen to them,” Williams said. “There is no benefit to the ANC. Tell me, what is the benefit?”

Odendaal said that, in reality, the MEC had not engaged with them on their plans. He said a dispute has been filed over the decision to continue with the changes to the municipal system and a number of shortcomings in Williams’ reasoning had been identified.

“I doubt very much that he legally has a leg to stand on,” Odendaal said. “We will see him in court. We don’t want litigation but we believe that changing the system will cause chaos. It has never been done before. It is only the ANC that will benefit from this.” DM/MC

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Early morning calls

The priorities

Very unstable