A fourth motion to remove Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Mayor Mongameli Bobani has collapsed again
The marathon special council meeting, lasting nine hours, was characterised by screaming and heated exchanges, and failed in its attempt to oust Bobani.
Council speaker Buyelwa Mafaya reportedly walked out of the council while opposition parties were crying foul during the presentation of a second legal opinion on a better route to follow in order to manage the feisty meeting.
The meeting, which started with a 30 minute adjournment of as soon as it began set the tone for more breaks, loud exchanges and several walkouts from the chamber.
By Monday afternoon, Council had not discussed the first of it’s only two agenda items – the motion of no confidence in the mayor and the appointment of section 56 manager.
The chaotic session began with the EFF pushing to get the motion of no confidence to be heard first.
After lengthy and heated exchanges, speaker Mafaya sought legal advice to make a decision on what sequence should be used to proceed with the meeting.
Democratic Alliance caucus leader Athol Trollip called the meeting a miscarriage of the intended purpose to remove Bobani.
“Speaker, earlier you talked about the birth of triplets in this council meeting – but all the meeting has produced is a miscarriage,” said Trollip.
Lulamile Moolman, special adviser to Deputy Mayor Thsonono Buyeye of the African Independent Congress (AIC), claimed the AIC had retracted its support for the no-confidence motion because death threats had been levelled against Buyeye and his family.
“We had to make the decision based on the fact that death is permanent, but council would have continued and people would eventually forget that a life had been lost in efforts to fight against a corrupt clique,” Moolman said.
“Personal agendas were used to defend Bobani, none of what happened today was in the interest of the city.”
Meanwhile, the DA’s Eastern Cape leader, Nqaba Bhanga, said he would support the move to put Nelson Mandela Bay under section 139(a), which means it will be put under administration.
“We will go to court and also make sure that the City is put under administration,” he said.
And the man at the centre of it all, mayor Bobani, chose to direct his comments at the DA.
“They have lost many leaders. They lost Mashaba, they lost Maimane, they even lost Trollip. I was surprised when he spoke in this council today because he has resigned from the leadership positions of the DA.”
“They have lost before, they will lose again, again and again, until 2021 when they will eventually vanish,” added Bobani.
