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Nelson Mandela Bay Speaker in contempt of court

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Dear MyPE

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will be seeking a contempt of court order against Nelson Mandela Bay Speaker, ANC councillor Buyelwa Mafaya, after her reprehensible conduct during today’s Nelson Mandela Bay council meeting.

Mafaya’s argument that she had adhered to a court order by placing the item of the election of an Executive Mayor on the agenda, but not having to follow through with the actual election, is nonsensical in the extreme and in bad faith.

The Speaker’s remarks that she always intended to comply with the court order fly in the face of her own behaviour during the meeting.

The DA will now be instructing our attorneys of record to immediately seek relief from the courts and to have Mafaya found in contempt of court.

Mafaya’s actions and those of ANC councillors have yet again highlighted that the ANC-led Coalition of Corruption is willing to do everything in its power to prevent an Executive Mayor from being elected and is hell-bent on looting the coffers of Nelson Mandela Bay at all costs.

At the start of the sitting, Mafaya and her fellow ANC councillors went to great lengths to paint herself as the victim, but the true victims are once again the long-suffering people of Nelson Mandela Bay.

While the DA can sympathise with Mafaya’s personal circumstances, the law and rules of the council are quite clear in terms of procedures that should be followed, should the Speaker be indisposed.

There was absolutely no reason for the meeting not to proceed. The meeting had a quorum, the Speaker was present, and there was just one item on the agenda.

It was clear, from the outset, that the ANC-led Coalition of Corruption would do all it could to collapse the meeting and prevent a Mayor from being elected.

These same tactics have already cost the people of Nelson Mandela Bay R509 million in grant funding, which included R189 million meant for drought mitigation, which will never be recovered!

We have seen, first-hand, time and time again that this Coalition of Corruption only ever puts themselves and their own interests ahead of the people.

The DA will fight to ensure that a Mayor is appointed that will place the well-being of the citizens of the Metro first and foremost. We will keep on fighting to ensure that good governance and accountability return to Nelson Mandela Bay and will work tirelessly to take this Metro forward again.

We can fix this mess, we have done it before, and we will, together with our coalition partners and the people of Nelson Mandela Bay, do it again.

Regards

Cllr Nqaba Bhanga
DA Eastern Cape Provincial Leader and NMB Mayoral Candidate

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