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DA provincial leader, Nqaba Bhanga, has been elected the new mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay at a fractious Special Council Meeting on Friday.
Bhanga was elected unopposed at the end of a day of drama which saw the Speaker, Buyelwa Mafaya, being forcibly removed from a Chamber in City Hall as deliberations on the vote for a new mayor were about to start several hours after the meeting began.
She later adjourned the meeting from the hospital where she reportedly said she would be laying charges.
Meanwhile, after the acting municipal manager obtained two legal opinions but leaving after allegedly being threatened, the meeting went ahead under the newly appointed acting Speaker, Marlon Daniels, of the Patriotic Alliance.
Bhanga was the only person to be nominated by his allies and was elected unopposed. The ANC had earlier named a mayoral candidate but councillors were not present during the vote.
The Metro has not had a permanent mayor since the late UDM councillor Mongameli Bobani was ousted a year ago.
In a brief victory speech afterward, Bhanga lamented what he said "was a sad day" in the city.
"We have seen acts of intimidation, violence, guns in the Council of Nelson Mandela Bay because of an organisation that fought for freedom, freedom for all of us to be elected as public representatives," he said.
He said "today should be the end of tyranny" adding that it was a shame that the Executive Director for Safety and the Acting City Manager, have been threatened and have had their families threatened.
The DA said Bhanga is currently in talks with different political parties in order to form a stable coalition government.
His election as new mayor came barely 24 hours after Nelson Mandela Bay was declared a Covid19 hotspot by the government and tighter restrictions were imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the Metro.
