MyPE

Community Business Directory, Event Listings, News and Views from Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay

Disband the MBDA Board

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Dear Editor

The recent impasse between the Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA) Board and the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality (NMBMM) on the appointment of MBDA CEO, Anele Qaba, has caused an irretrievable breakdown of trust between the parties.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has therefore tabled a formal motion to Council to dissolve the existing board immediately and to appoint a new temporary board.

The DA has also written to Bay City Manager, Dr Noxolo Nqwazi, to request that a temporary hold on the transfer of all funding to the MBDA be put in place until the impasse between the parties has been resolved.

The MBDA board was formally advised by Nqwazi not to proceed with the appointment of Qaba as CEO of the MBDA – a municipal entity wholly owned by the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality.

In addition, the DA also cautioned the board against the appointment and reminded the directors of their fiduciary duty of care towards the MBDA and NMBMM.

Despite this, the board proceeded with the appointment, which has now caused the NMBMM demonstrable harm, as National Treasury is withholding all grant funding to the Metro until the impasse has been resolved.

It is clear that the MBDA board has gone rogue and that they do not have the best interest of either the MBDA or the NMBMM at heart.

The consequences of the current board’s wayward decisions are so serious that their judgement on decisions relating to public funding can, unfortunately, no longer be trusted.

There is a clear breakdown of trust between the board and the NMBMM, which the Council will have to seek to rectify forthwith.

The MBDA has, in the past, been one of the most effective and successful municipal entities in South Africa.

Unfortunately, the MBDA today is a shadow of its former self and has become a bloated, ineffective and costly organisation to run. The irresponsible actions by the current board do not bode well for the embattled MDBA.

The entity must get its act together or risk being disbanded in its entirety.

Regards

Cllr Retief Odendaal
DA NMB Caucus Leader

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Port Elizabethan

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