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AIM (Abantu Integrity Movement) Statement on MEC Williams Section 12 Notice to change municipal system

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There is no doubt that the metropolitan municipality of Nelson Mandela Bay is broken, and its infrastructure is on the verge of collapse. The primary cause thereof is well known too, namely the dysfunction of the council and the metro’s administration.

The Section 12 Notice gazetted by MEC Williams on 12 December 2022, changing the municipal system from an executive mayor to an executive committee, will not change that. If the state of the eThekwini metro, the only metro currently under governance of an executive committee, is anything to go by, it will amplify the dysfunctionality.

This sad state of affairs has been known to all since Danny Jordaan was elected mayor in May 2015. At the time the then CoGTA MEC had considered placing the metro under administration, but the ANC chose to go instead with replacing Oom Ben Fihla (elected in 2013). Since Mayor Jordaan’s election to the mayoral role, we have had several mayors in quick succession over the subsequent years: Athol Trollip (Aug 2016), Mongameli Bobani (Aug 2018), Tshono Buyeye (acting mayor, Dec 2019), Nqaba Bhanga (Dec 2020 and Jan 2021), Eugene Johnson (Nov 2021), and Retief Odendaal (Sept 2022).

During these years council has been wracked by walkouts, boycotts, violence, missed budget deadlines, unused funds being returned to Treasury, corruption, and several individual Councillors and officials arrested. The metro has been without a full-time municipal manager since the suspension of Johann Mettler in September 2018. Each of these incidents on their own would have warranted the intervention of the CoGTA MEC, and each provide the exact same grounds on which MEC Nqatha, and his successor MEC Williams, have selectively argued as the rationale behind the Section 12 notice of change. There is nothing original nor unique in the MEC’s reasoning for this change.

The citizens of the metro have shown their dissatisfaction with this dysfunctionality both through reducing the seats the parliamentary parties have obtained in local government elections, and through establishing local parties whose sole focus is improving service delivery. By example, the African National Congress (ANC) has been reduced from its 81 seats in 2006 to its current 48 seats, and the Democratic Alliance (DA) from its 57 seats in 2016, to its current 48 seats, both substantially below the required 61-seat majority. The first local government elections in 2000 had seven parties on the ballot, with six receiving seats; in 2021, 28 parties contested and 13 were awarded seats. The citizens of the metro are clear, they are not interested in being a political football kicked around by nationally represented parties, nor do they believe any single party warrants a majority.

We are a diverse metro; we need diverse representation. Coalitions are a sign of the electorate maturing and will be the future of Nelson Mandela Bay. They may be messy, but we are young democracy, and we are learning how to manage our diversity. When Mayor Johnson’s mayoral committee and the first coalition collapsed, our fledgling democracy responded as it should and voted her out and formed a new coalition. That coalition has been in place for three months and by all accounts delivering against its mandate. Our metro should be given the necessary time and opportunity to manage this learning process.

The dysfunctionality and chaos that has reigned in the last nine years is the very reason the Abantu Integrity Movement (AIM) was founded by concerned citizens in October 2020 and contested municipal elections in November 2021. With a mandate to get the metro working, we have served in both coalitions that have governed the metro since. With our one seat, our representative Mkhuseli (Khusta) Jack has served the electorate firstly in the role of MMC: Economic Development, Agriculture and Tourism, and now as Deputy-Mayor. We believe integrity and a dedication to addressing resident’s needs is the measure of good governance, not the size of the party nor the vested interests many serve. An executive committee system cannot change the integrity of those elected, it will instead create an even greater distance between the elected and the electorate.

All things considered, we believe the suspicious timing of the Section 12 notice serves only the ANC’s desperate attempt to retain some form of power, that the CoGTA MEC has had many causes and opportunities to intervene in the last decade, and that dismantling the current executive mayoral system for a permanent executive committee defeats the intention of the constitution that those elected must serve their electorate. MEC Williams should heed the lesson of eThekwini and allow the metro sufficient time to manage its own affairs. There are better ways for him to assist the metro, including encouraging his party colleagues to attend council meetings as they were elected to do, and it is in the interest of our fledgling democracy that those alternatives be explored first.

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.