Nelson Mandela Bay Councillors failed to pass the Metro's draft operating budget at a testy council meeting at the Old Wool Exchange building in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday.
The draft operating budget of more than R12 billion needed 61 votes to pass but came up one vote short.
60 councillors voted for the budget while 58 were against it. It was the fourth time Executive Mayor Mongameli Bobani had tabled the budget.
A furious Patriotic Alliance councillor Marlon Daniels left the meeting after earlier telling the Speaker that threats had been made against him and his family if he did not support the budget. He vowed that the budget would not be passed on Wednesday.
Cope councillor Siyasanda Sijadu said she'd had to hire body-guards after four men made threats against her and her family on Tuesday.
United Front Councillor and the head of budget and treasury Mkhuseli Mtsila told Council that he'd been threatened on Tuesday night along with three other councillors.
The Speaker postponed the meeting to this Friday and reminded Council that the budget must be passed before the 30th of June deadline.
Earlier, NMB councillors passed the Metro's Integrated Development Plan with the 60 votes it required.
