Zukile Majova
THE ROAD TO 2024: Zukile Majova says a DA-led coalition is about to tip the ANC-led group out of power in another one of the country’s largest metros
From day one the ANC-led coalition in Nelson Mandela Bay was living on borrowed time with just one vote tipping the scales in its favour.
Last year, party mayoral candidate Eugene Johnson won the R15.8 billion metro by 60 votes at council compared to 59 votes obtained by the DA coalition led by Nqaba Bhanga.
The delicate ANC-led coalition with smaller parties was under immediate pressure to save the region from running out of water following a seven-year-long drought that drained dams in Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage.
It failed.
The crisis left thousands of residents without water and no clear plan from the council on how the water shortage will be resolved.
The grace period of eight months appears to have come to an end with the DA-led coalition now convinced it has enough votes to unravel the ANC empire.
It’s another chip off the ANC dominance which once ruled the Cape Town metro, Tshwane metro, Ekurhuleni metro and Jo’burg metro.
The collapse of the ANC coalition will not only remove Mayor Johnson but Deputy Executive Mayor Buyelwa Mafaya.
Gary van Niekerk, the president of the Northern Alliance, also stands to lose his position as speaker of the council.
This week the opposition coalition made up of the DA, UDM, FF-plus, ACDP, African
Independent Congress, Abantu Integrity Movement, PAC, and UDM announced it had met eight times to discuss the future governance of NMB.
In a joint statement the parties said: “This is the eighth time we have met to discuss a stable coalition government for the City to replace the fractured and dysfunctional ANC coalition that is presiding over a paralysed administration divided between two competing City managers.”
The parties said they expect a new council to rule the city by the end of July.
“The parties involved in today’s talks will report back to their structures for a final mandate. We aim to sign a formal coalition agreement before the end of the month. There will be no further comment until the signing ceremony.”
