National

DA welcomes the removal of the most destructive mayor in Nelson Mandela Bay’s history

Issued by Athol Trollip – Nelson Mandela Bay Caucus Chairperson
05 Dec 2019 in News

The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the removal of the United Democratic Movement’s Mongameli Bobani, as executive mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay.

In his fifteen months in office Bobani has been the most destructive mayor that this Metro has ever seen, and has single-handedly run this City into the ground. It comes as no surprise that every other party present voted to remove him.

The question still needs to be asked at a national level why UDM leader, Bantu Holomisa, who has a reputation for fighting corruption, did and said nothing against Bobani’s reign of terror in Nelson Mandela Bay.

Under Bobani’s watch:

  • National Treasury has threatened to withdraw and recall in excess of R3-billion in funds made available since the inception of the IPTS conditional grant allocation, because these funds have been used outside the framework stipulated in the Division of Revenue Act (DoRA).
  • The Hawks have raided his mayoral offices twice, which is unprecedented.
  • SMME’s have literally gone to war over a dubious drain cleaning tender, with people losing their lives.
  • Bobani refused to sign the drought declaration for months, while taps across the Metro ran dry and dam levels continued to drop.
  • He spun in his mayoral chair, while service delivery in the Metro ground to a halt.
  • The City is dirty, as refuse is not being collected on a regular basis and illegal dumping is a massive problem.

This is in sharp contrast to the 24 months where the DA led coalition was in charge, with a host of successes, including among others:

  • The City was financially liquid with over R2 billion in the bank and received a AAA credit rating;
  • Achieved annual financial statements that indicate the administration has achieved record levels of spending in the financial year 2017/18;
  • Boasted one of the best Urban Settlements Development Grant (USDG) spending performances in the country at 100%;
  • Tripled the number of annual jobs created by the EPWP (Expanded Public Works Program); and
  • won environmental prizes in 2017 and 2018 for our efforts at cleaning up the city

Now that Bobani has been removed, hopefully we can return to putting the people of Nelson Mandela Bay first.