By Anita Dangazele
The residents of Nelson Mandela Bay have no idea whether or not they have a mayor.
Mayor Gary van Niekerk’s council seat was declared vacant on Monday, but his office are yet to confirm whether or not he is still in the job.
City manager Noxolo Nqwazi told the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) on Monday that Van Niekerk’s and Councillor Stag Mitchell’s seats had been declared vacant, along with councillor Stag Mitchell’s.
This comes after Nqwazi received a letter from National Alliance deputy secretary-general Ashley Tiervlei, telling her that the party had expelled both members from the party during a disciplinary hearing on Sunday.
This leaves the city’s administration on shaky ground, potentially stalling many services, as the mayoral committee may also be dissolved.
However, Van Niekerk isn’t necessarily out the door yet.
He says they’ve filed court papers for an urgent hearing at the Gqeberha High Court to interdict the IEC from removing or replacing them as councillors.
Van Niekerk said he was told the court could only hear the case next Wednesday.
He also says he has asked the deputy mayor, the ANC’s Babalwa Lobishe to stand in as mayor for the duration of the week as he is away.
The National Alliance is in a coalition with the ANC, EFF, PA, AIC and the PAC, whose members form the mayoral committee.
Van Niekerk’s administration has been mired in drama and court disputes ever since it came to power four months ago. These include Van Niekerk’s failure to announce his party’s name change to the council, service delivery coming to a standstill when the national Treasury withheld funds because of irregularities within the administration, and most recently, fraud charges being filed against the mayor.
National Alliance spokesperson Morne Du Plessis — who is linked to Van Niekerk’s faction — said Nqwazi was using the party infighting as a delaying tactic. Du Plessis claimed that Nqwazi wanted to prevent Van Niekerk from investigating and reporting back to the council whether her actions should be referred to a disciplinary committee.
“The same tactic was used on two previous occasions to try to remove our councillors and in both cases the high court found the actions to be illegal.”
Former Nelson Mandela Bay executive mayor and DA council member, Retief Odendaal, said he was disappointed that it took just four months to bring the city to its knees.
“I am bitterly disappointed at the rapid decline of service delivery in NMB in such a short period of time.
“What we are experiencing at the moment is a systematic ‘shutting down of the administration’,” Odendaal said.
Pictured above: Expelled National Alliance members Gary van Niekerk and Stag Mitchell
Image source: Facebook
