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Chaotic NMB council adopts unlawful budget and appoints unqualified acting City Manager

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Dear MyPE

The Democratic Alliance does not recognise the decisions taken during the deeply flawed and severely compromised Nelson Mandela Bay council meeting yesterday, and will, if necessary, seek legal advice.

The ANC-led coalition of corruption and its deeply compromised and inept Speaker, Cllr Buyelwa Mafaya, once again showed the residents of Nelson Mandela Bay that they feel nothing for the rule of law or the Constitution, pushing through a budget under questionable circumstances as well as appointing an unqualified Acting City Manager.

Not only do their actions fly in the face of national regulations, it also places the municipality at risk of losing in excess of R800 million in grant funding from National Treasury.

The tone was set from the very beginning when DA councillors were denied access to one of the venues that were allocated for today’s council meeting. The DA, as the biggest party in council, was only allocated one representative to take part in the physical sitting with the Speaker. This while the ANC was allocated 12 seats, the UDM 2 and one each of the ACDP, PA, UF, AIC and Cope.

Once the meeting got underway, it was made clear that there would be no opportunity for the DA or other parties to interrogate and debate the budget.

When it became clear that this inept and morally bankrupt Coalition of Corruption were hell-bent on pushing through their decisions, no matter what the law says, the Democratic Alliance was left with no choice but to distance themselves from proceedings. We could not, in good conscience, add credibility to their blatantly lawless behaviour.

The virtual meeting then continued, even though the Speaker was unable to confirm a quorum and never made any effort to do just that. Virtual participants to the meeting were never asked if they were voting in favour and consisted of a number of journalists and officials who were seemingly counted as well.

There are very specific requirements set out in law, relating to voting for individual budget items. These were never voted on separately and would certainly affect the lawfulness of large sections of and specific items in the budget.

Mr Mvuleni Mapu was also appointed as acting City Manager although he does not possess the necessary skills, expertise, competencies, and qualifications legislation prescribes for this position.

We are in possession of a recording of the council meeting and will be interrogating its legality, as well as all decisions that were taken.

The DA will, if necessary, take legal advice regarding the unprocedural and unlawful nature of this council meeting and will also bring the unlawfulness of the budget and IDP and the appointment of the acting City Manager to the attention of National Treasury.

Regards

Cllr Nqaba Bhanga
DA EC Provincial Leader

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