Nelson Mandela Bay executive mayor, Mongameli Bobani, has refused to sign a letter containing directives describing the extent of his Council's failure to fulfil its obligations in terms of the Constitution.
Now, the Eastern Cape Executive Council has set in motion its plans for the administrative takeover of the Metro in terms of Section 139 (1) (A) of the Constitution.
In a statement, Premier Lubabalo Mabuyane said that the Provincial Exco had received a report from the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Xolile Nqatha, confirming that "the Council has not responded to the notice of intention issued to the Council by the MEC".
The Premier said that "in the absence of the response from the municipality", Nqatha had "issued a letter with directives to the municipality.
However, he said Mayor Bobani took a copy of the hand-delivered letter but "refused to sign an acknowledgement of receipt".
Mabuyane said the Executive Council then resolved to, among other things, second officials to act as Municipal Manager and Chief Financial Officer and establish a multi-disciplinary task team to support the acting municipal manager.
"The legal team must ensure that the correct processes were followed in the invocation of section 139 (1) (A)," he said.
Mabuyane said that the "secondment of officials is a mechanism to help rescue the Metro from the difficulty it is further sinking into, owing to this current impasse."
He said the provincial government will explore all options in the constitution to ensure that the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro implements its constitutional responsibilities to the people of the Metro.
