DA, UDM and smaller parties ‘set to take over Nelson Mandela Bay’

The Democratic Alliance (DA) could soon be back to run the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro if the plan to remove and redeploy United Democratic Movement (UDM) councillor Mongameli Bobani is finalised and agreed by all the coalition partners.

The DA, UDM and their smaller allies are set to establish a coalition government at the next council meeting – minus Bobani and former mayor Athol Trollip, the main protagonists in the metro’s political conflict.

Trollip is already out and Bobani is seen as the only stumbling block in the way of the coalition.

It is understood that the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) and the Congress of the People (Cope) said they would only participate in the coalition if Bobani was not mayor.

Well-placed sources within the Port Elizabeth municipality said this was the main reason the UDM planned to sacrifice Bobani.

DA member of the provincial legislature Nqaba Bhanga was likely to be moved from Eastern Cape capital Bhisho to Port Elizabeth to stand as a mayoral candidate.

This is the strategy to remove the current coalition and oust deputy mayor Tsonono Buyeye of the ANC-aligned African Independent Party (AIC) and ANC council Speaker Buyelwa Mafaya, who were both accused of being elected non-procedurally.

The DA, UDM, ACDP, Cope and the United Front recently signed a petition asking for the convening of a special council meeting on 12 March. The parties requested the election of the new executive mayor, as well as the removal of the current deputy mayor and the election of his replacement.

They also proposed the election of a chief whip, the removal of the current speaker, the election of a new speaker and votes to fill other positions.

Political analyst Ongama Mtimka told The Citizen recently the DA was in a better position to establish a coalition with the UDM if Bobani was excluded. He said the ANC was unable to form a coalition due to infighting and because Bobani would reject the ANC after it plotted his ousting as mayor.

Mtimka said the previous DA-UDM cooperation had failed because of the clash of personalities between Trollip and Bobani.

“Both have strong personalities and pursued their personal objectives although they were in a coalition,” Mtimka said.

Bobani was unceremoniously removed in a motion of no confidence on 5 December last year.

With Bhanga as a favourite for the position as mayor, the deputy mayor might come from the UDM, while smaller parties may be offered executive positions on the mayoral committee.

Bhanga said yesterday it had been agreed in a recent meeting that since there was no mayor, no speaker, no chief whip nor city manager and since service delivery had come to a standstill, something needed to be done to stabilise the municipality.

He would not comment on his pending nomination except to say: “I will do what my party asked me to do”.

If the current figures are anything to go by, the DA coalition will beat the ANC and its alliance partners in a revenge poll election set for 12 March. As the council has 120 seats, any party that received a majority of 50% plus one or 61 seats would win the election.

In its calculation, the DA-led coalition would get 62 votes while the ANC and its partners could only get 58 votes.

Patriotic Alliance (PA) councillor Marlon Daniels, municipal committee member for economic development, tourism and agriculture, confirmed that his party would support the caucus comprising the ANC, AIC, United Front and PA.

He said the EFF could not be trusted as the party relied on an overnight WhatsApp message from head office on what to do.

Daniels also appeared resigned to the fact that they would lose to the DA-led coalition. “We are not perturbed by their majority because we know that a day in politics is long and things can change overnight… we believe whoever is elected must put the residents first.”

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