Opposition parties in Nelson Mandela Bay have announced that they will be boycotting a special council meeting on Thursday for the election of a new mayor.
SAFA President Danny Jordaan is currently in Zurich, Switzerland, on Fifa related business and flies home overnight for the meeting - he has been nominated by the ruling party for the position of Nelson Mandela Bay mayor.
After the council meeting Jordaan is due to fly back to Zurich to continue his SAFA and Fifa commitments amidst an international media storm following the arrest of several top Fifa officials as part of a massive anti-corruption probe.
At a hastily convened media briefing in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday, UDM councillor Mongameli Bobane, said the position of mayor was a full time job and one Jordaan could not give the necessary attention while also involved with SAFA and Fifa.
"We are not supoorting the candidate councillor Danny Jordaan, that particluar ANC canditate for the mayor has a full time job at SAFA, his actaully at Fifa as I'm talking to you now. You appoint him as an executive mayor in the metro, it's a full time job, specifically in the metro that is collapsing."
Khwezi Ntshanyana from Cope said they also had a problem with Jordaan's appointment as Metro Mayor.
"Our view as COPE, the appointment of Danny Jordaan and councillor Biks Ndoni respectively as mayor elect and deputy mayor in our view in itself is an attack on constitutional democracy. It does not show a committment by the ruling party to communicate with all relevant stakeholders in concil."
Democratic Alliance Caucus Leader, Retief Odendaal, also explained why the official opposition would not be attending the meeting.
"We cannot go to the council meeting tomorrow whilst the ANC has so much disention within their ranks, the ANC wants the DA to vote for Danny Jordaan and we are not willing to vote for Danny Jordaan, the ANC is the ruling party currently and they have to install their own mayor."
AlgoaFM News asked Odendaal if the planned stayaway by opposition parties would affect any qurom required to elect a new mayor, in terms of the law.
"There are 120 councillors in Nelson Mandela Bay and therefore at least 61 councillors must vote for a mayoral candidate," said Odendaal. "We believe that the ANC will not be able to achieve those numbers given the fact that they only represent 51% of the seats in the Nelson Mandela Bay council," he said.
However, National ANC Spokesperson Zizi Kodwa, told AlgoaFM News that the ANC as the majority party did not need the presence of the opposition to continue with its business.
Kodwa said its the choice of the opposition parties as to whether or not they want to participate in Thursday's special council meeting.
