Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Gary van Niekerk says the ball is now in the court of the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) to appoint an acting city manager.
Van Niekerk, who was flanked by council speaker Eugene Johnson and chief whip Wandisile Jikeka, held a media briefing at the council chambers on Thursday following Wednesday's special council meeting to appoint an acting city manager.
The municipality suspended city manager Noxolo Nqwazi in April.
According to reports, Nqwazi is accused of failing to take adequate measures to prevent irregular and wasteful expenditure when the city reached a settlement agreement with former economic development executive director Anele Qaba.
Despite being in hot water with the municipality, Nqwazi also faces criminal charges of fraud and corruption with several co-accused in a multi-million rand toilet tender saga.
During the media briefing on Thursday, Van Niekerk announced that Nqwazi's disciplinary hearing started on 14 May and that she remained on suspension pending the finalisation of the process.
He also said that the metro approached the MEC to ask for assistance in appointing an acting city manager.
"Everything is now in the hands of the MEC who will take over compiling a list of candidates to appoint a city manager from," Van Niekerk said.
He also said they were opting for an external candidate as none of the internal senior officials wanted to act in the position.
He added that the briefing was important for transparency purposes because "suspensions is costly to ratepayers in the city".
"Therefore, we want to conclude this hearing as soon as possible."
In the same breath, Van Niekerk touched on the city's budget and its expenditure, following reports that the metro has only spent 47% of its budget.
He said he is confident that the expenditure would surpass the 80% mark at the end of the financial year.
