ANC Nelson Mandela Bay Councillor, Andile Lungisa, has been included in the new mayoral committee for the Metro announced on Monday night by the new mayor, Mongameli Bobani of the United Democratic Movement.
Lungisa, who is out on bail pending a petition to the High Court for leave to appeal his effective two-year jail term for assaulting DA councillor, Rano Kayser, during the infamous Council brawl of 2016, is the new Mayoral Committee Member for Infrastructure and Engineering.
Apart from United Front Councillor, Mkuseli Mtsila, who was appointed the head of Budget and Treasury, the remaining eight portfolios went to ANC councillors.
Bobani was elected mayor after DA councillors and their alliance partners walked out of a Council meeting which they said was adjourned by the Municipal Manager after DA Speaker Jonathan Lawack was ousted when a former DA councillor abstained during voting.
This opened the way for the ANC and its partners to get a slim one-vote majority. However, after Municipal Manager, Johan Mettler, withdrew an announcement declaring a vacancy after the DA sacked its Councillor, Mbulelo Manyathi, the ANC appealed to the MEC for Cooperative Governance, Fikile Xasa, to intervene.
He authorized a senior official to preside over the Council meeting at which a motion to axe mayor, Athol Trollip, was passed while another motion to rescind a decision to terminate the Deputy Mayor’s post was also passed.
DA Eastern Cape leader, Nqaba Bhanga, declared the meeting “illegal”, saying they were still in charge.
DA leader Mmusi Maimane, accompanied by National Chairperson, Athol Trollip, and National Spokesperson, Solly Malatsi, will address a media briefing in Cape Town on Tuesday on the events in Nelson Mandela Bay while also announcing how the DA will fight the “return of the Metro to a corrupt ANC-EFF crony coalition”.
The ANC in the Eastern Cape welcomed the new leadership in Nelson Mandela Bay.
However, provincial spokesperson, Gift Nqondi, said the new leadership will be expected to "go to the ground" and deliver services to the communities.
Nqondi said residents in townships around Nelson Mandela Bay, in particular, have been complaining about poor service delivery.
He said this was not "about power".
