DA leader, Mmusi Maimane, said that the coalition government in Nelson Mandela Bay was holding up.
Speaking on the Justice Factor on Monday night, Maimane said that “broadly speaking the coalitions at a national level with the parties that we are in coalition with stand.”
Maimane was responding to a question by host, Justice Malala, on the criminal charges laid by Deputy Mayor, Mongameli Bobani of the UDM, against Executive Mayor Athol Trollip.
The DA leader said that “I do not support the actions of Deputy Mayor, Bobani.”
“That he has gone and laid the charges is actually against the spirit of the whole. But, more than that we have nothing to hide,” Maimane said.
The Sunday Times reported this past weekend that Bobani has opened a criminal case against Trollip for allegedly hiring a company to 'hack' the municipality's security system.
According to the report, the Hawks confirmed they were investigating a charge that Trollip and Municipal Manager, Johan Mettler, had authorised the appointment of an IT company to access the municipal server - a move Bobani claims compromises the information of thousands of employees.
Trollip denied the allegations and told the Sunday Times that Bobani should substantiate this and provide evidence.
Last month Bobani laid criminal charges against Mettler, and the executive Director of Corporate Services, Vuyo Zitumane.
He said at the time that the charges related to the expenditure of millions on allegedly dubious contracts, purportedly into by the the two.
Maimaine told the Justice Factor that their job was to investigate properly and where there are questions around tenders and corruption we will investigate. Maimane said however that he did not think that we should, when “we do our duty”, feel that the coalition is falling apart.
“I’ve had communication with the leader of the UDM and both him and I have resolved that, despite the conflict that is taking place there, which I think is actually, as we’ve put our argument forward that it is simply unacceptable what the Deputy Mayor is doing.”
Maimane said that in spite of the ongoing conflict between Bobani and Trollip the DA-led coalition would be able to pass the adjustment budget.
The DA leader said that he had met with Bobani and UDM leader Bantu Holomisa and “now we’re at a point where we say, what do we with the role of the Deputy Executive mayor and there is broad agreement that we need to take action around resolving that particular issue”.
