The DA is pleased by the decision of the Gqeberha High Court to grant an order confirming that Mayor Retief Odendaal, his mayoral committee and the multiparty coalition remain in government in Nelson Mandela Bay.
This suspends the implementation of a Section 12 amendment in Nelson Mandela Bay that would change the system of governance from a mayoral executive to a collective executive system.
The Eastern Cape MEC of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Zolile Williams, gazetted the Section 12 amendment of the Municipal Structures Act on 12 December 2022.
Last week the DA joined the urgent court application launched by Mayor Odendaal to prevent the implementation of the proposed changes.
The court application consists of two parts. Part A is for interim relief to have the Section 12 amendment suspended and allow the status quo of a mayoral executive to remain, until such time as the main part of the application has been finalised.
Part B challenges the MEC’s decision to change the municipality’s system of governance, arguing that not only is MEC Williams’s decision politically motivated, but the reasons he gave for his decision are irrational and have no merit.
After an agreement was reached between the parties, the court today ordered that the implementation of the Section 12 amendment be suspended until Part A of the application has been heard on 16 February 2023.
The fact that the MEC approached our legal team in a bid to settle the case before the order was made, speaks volumes of his lack of confidence in the merits of his case.
Williams clearly has no interest in seeing a stable municipal administration and his only goal is to put the ANC back in government so that cadres can return to ransack municipal coffers and steal the people’s money.
He did not once engage with the multiparty coalition government to ascertain if any progress had been made after the initial concerns he raised whilst the ANC was still in charge of the administration.
Also, although an inter-governmental dispute was declared with his office in September of this year, he tried to bulldoze a change of government model through without once reaching out to the city administration.
We will continue to fight for the people of Nelson Mandela Bay, to ensure they get the services they are entitled to. We will not be deterred by those whose sole intent is to loot with impunity and bring this city to ruin.