Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB), the biggest municipality in the Eastern Cape and one of South Africa’s eight metros, could be placed under administration. This was according to the MEC for co-operative governance and traditional affairs in the province, Xolile Nqatha.
NMB, which includes the towns of Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage, has been without a mayor since December 2019, when Mongameli Bobani of the United Democratic Movement was ousted.
Nqatha said the national department of co-operative governance and traditional affairs had given him the go-ahead to put NBM under administration, in order to ensure good governance.
On Friday Nqatha said the metro was not under administration yet, but that he had given it seven days to put its affairs in order.
‘To have someone acting as executive mayor perpetually cannot be in the interest of good governance,’ said Nqatha.
If it is put into administration it will join Tshwane, which was placed into administration in March, after sustained political infighting.
In the 2016 local government election the Democratic Alliance (DA) emerged as the biggest party in NBM but did not have enough support to govern alone. It governed with the support of smaller parties, until the coalition fractured, and the DA mayor, Athol Trollip, was deposed in favour of his deputy, Bobani. However, continued political infighting and chaos led to governance problems with the business community in the metro writing to President Cyril Ramaphosa pointing out the ‘prolonged dysfunctional state’ of the metro.
Image: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Meraj Chhaya, Flickr