DA threatens legal action to have mayor for Nelson Mandela Bay appointed

The DA has demanded an urgent council meeting to elect an executive mayor for the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, or the municipal speaker could face legal action from the party.

DA Eastern Cape leader Nqaba Bhanga said the party has written to speaker Buyelwa Mafaya after Eastern Cape Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Xolile Nqatha informed interim mayor Tshonono Buyeye that he intended placing the metro under administration.

Nqatha alerted the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality this week of his intentions to place it under administration.

The decision is based on the persistent failure of the metro to fill the mayoral position, that has been vacant for more than six months.

The metro has also been in hot water with National Treasury, which threatened to withhold more than R800 million of its grant funding.

Following a vote of no confidence in December, the UDM’s Mongameli Bobani was ousted as mayor.

Buyeye has since been acting as mayor.

According to Bhanga, the decision to place a municipality under administration cannot be taken lightly, and the provincial government must prove they have “acted to support and service the municipality in the years and months leading up to this decision”.

“Any intervention into the administration of Nelson Mandela Bay must be solely for the purpose of stabilising and supporting the metro administration,” Bhanga said.

Bhanga has requested that Mafaya call a meeting to “elect a mayor and appoint a competent and qualified acting city manager on or before Tuesday”.

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