Nelson Mandela Bay speaker collapses special council meeting, sending opposition parties up the wall
13 March 2020
Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality councillors who signed a petition to request a special council meeting were caught by surprise on Thursday morning when the meeting was unexpectedly declared illegal.
According to Speaker Buyelwa Mafaya, the petition initially had 62 signatures but now only has 60.
One of the councillors who had signed the petition, Kobus Botha, resigned from the council, leaving them with 61 signatures - just enough to meet the requirement for the meeting.
But Mafaya added: "...I was informed last night that councillor Mkhuseli Mtsila has removed his signature from the petition. That means this meeting can no longer continue as it is now illegal."
Hopes of removing the coalition leadership were dashed, leaving their midnight talks and hard work about forming workable joint ventures in limbo.
An immediate adjournment followed the announcement and the ANC broke into song.
DA leaders John Steenhuisen and James Selfe were present when the bombshell was dropped and the party converged for a brief meeting with its 119 councillors.
Regrouping to strengthen the links
None of the parties left the council chambers following the announcement.
Instead, the DA, ACDP and Cope were joined by the Patriotic Alliance and United Democratic Movement (UDM). The UDM's absence has been notable since the removal of Mongameli Bobani as the mayor.
When Bobani was removed on 5 December last year, all parties joined hands to vote him out, except for the AIC and EFF.
On Thursday, the embattled parties came together in an effort to gain control of Nelson Mandela Bay.
Addressing the media, the unusual partners vowed that they would succeed in holding the council speaker personally accountable and financially liable for legal costs, for what they termed the "unconstitutional bullying" she had thrown at them.
The DA's aspirant executive mayor, Nqaba Bhanga said: "The ANC continues not to understand the laws of the republic. We'll teach them a lesson. You don't run the republic as if you're running a spaza shop.
"We're going to elect a new speaker today," he vowed.
Bhanga said they were writing letters to Mafaya and acting City manager Noxolo Nqwazi to reconvene the meeting.
"The City manager must preside over the meeting as it quorates and there will be costs involved if she doesn't come," he said.
Bobani confessed that he was caught by surprise by the unprecedented retraction of Mtsila.
"The removal of the signature took us by surprise and now there's an issue around numbers," said Bobani.
Cope's Siyasanga Sijadu, who is unofficially said to be eyeing the speaker position in the looming coalition, added that Mafaya had proved true Bhanga's words that power was like opium.
"She is drunk with power and doesn't want to let go. She needs to let go," said Sijadu.
Seven hours later
In the afternoon, parties converged again at the council chamber, following an instructing letter from the DA's lawyers which cited that the meeting should continue or a court process would be engaged.
Two hours later, the speaker had not arrived in the council chambers, neither had the acting City manager.
Instead, the ANC councillors sang church hymns. They were joined by DA councillors and merrily danced around in the chambers for about an hour.
Later, the DA leaders and its partners converged for the umpteenth time in a closed caucus in the UDM council offices.
Yet another meeting converged, which led to the parties conceding defeat, at least for now.
Bhanga said they had received a poor legal opinion.
"It was unclear they are briefing attorneys incorrectly," he said.
"We've appointed attorneys in Cape Town."
ACDP's Lance Grootboom said they started a new process to submit a new petition to the office of the speaker.
The group announced that they would call it a day until the legal opinion had arrived.
Conceding defeat, albeit only for the moment Bhanga said: "The day they will be removed will come. It might not be today but it will come. The battle continues."
Where is Mtsila? The conspiracy theories
Mtsila disappeared from the council meeting shortly after 08:00 in the morning and his phone was off for the larger part of the day.
At around lunch time, it rang but was not answered.
Clearly distraught, Bhanga said: "I last spoke to him after 08:00 this morning. He said he was on his way to council. I don't know where he is.
"Maybe he went via Florence Matomela House and then...", Bhanga said, gesturing that Mtsila may have been given something for his pockets.
The PA's Marlon Daniels had his own theory about Mtsila's disappearance.
"It's now seven hours after the meeting started. What is alarming is that there are allegations that the United Front councillor withdrew his signature under duress, while being held hostage."
Shifting blame on the glaring problems of the Nelson Mandela Bay
By Thursday evening, both Bobani and Bhanga lambasted the ANC for the sinking and dilapidated status of Nelson Mandela Bay.
"Our city is filthy. Rubbish is not being collected. The lights are off. There are water leaks all over the city and our townships," they said.
"Our residents want to know what is happening today. Are we safe?" asked Bobani.
"We want to bring political stability. Right now we don't have a mayor, we don't have an executive meant to take decisions, meant to deliver services for our people," he said.
"Our streets have potholes... We have politicians who have failed to spend the budget allocated to them. They have spent only 20 percent of the budget."
Bhanga said there were no guarantees that their unity would not change by the time they get to another petitioned meeting.
"In politics everything is possible, in unity, 62 people who have disagreed before said they want a meeting," said Bhanga.
The collective refused to be dragged to discussions on positions that each would occupy after their success in removing the ANC.
Bhanga said everybody who had a role to play in Nelson Mandela Bay's state would face consequences.
Who will hold these politicians to account remains a hanging question that nobody wants to answer.
