Democratic Alliance (DA) councillor Nqaba Bhanga has been elected as the new Executive Mayor of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro. He was the only nominee.
The election on Friday came after Speaker Buyelwa Mafaya was escorted out of the council by unknown men who appeared to be security personnel.
The council was presided over by Patriotic Alliance (PA) councillor Marlon Daniels, after Acting City Manager Mandla George declined to preside on the grounds that his family was once threatened.
The African National Congress (ANC) in the chamber opposed this, saying due processes had not been followed.
Nelson Mandela Bay speaker forcibly removed during council meeting:
Daniels says having no counter nomination made things easier.
“When we do not have a counter nomination it makes it so much easier. This should be normally done by a secret ballot, but in the absence of more nominations there is no need for any secret ballots for the nomination to go on. But I think I’m going to ask all councillors in favour of councillor Bhanga being nominated as an Executive Mayor to kindly raise their hands,” says Daniels.
Councilor Thsonono Buyeye, who has been the metro’s Acting Mayor, says the sudden removal of the Speaker by security personnel has been reported to the police.
DA councillor Nqaba Bhanga has been elected as the new Executive Mayor of the Nelson Mandela Bay metro. He was the only nominee. #sabcnews
— SAfm news (@SAfmnews) December 5, 2020
Yesterday’s council sitting was third time lucky as previous attempts to elect a new Mayor had failed. Bhanga will fill a void that was left when the late former Mayor, Mongameli Bobani was booted out of office in December 2019.
