Nelson Mandela Bay Metro Mayor, Retief Odendaal, is due to face a motion of no confidence in a council meeting on Friday.
The African National Congress (ANC) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) filed the motion against Odendaal, which the Democratic Alliance (DA) says is politically motivated.
DA provincial leader in the Eastern Cape, Andrew Whitfield, elaborates.
“What they say they want to do is remove the mayor is because he allegedly covered up wrongdoing by the deputy mayor, where the Auditor General (AG) made a provisional finding against the deputy mayor in respect to his involvement with businesses with the municipality that he may not have declared. Subsequently, the AG has cleared the deputy mayor on two occasions, which effectively means that the entire motivation for this motion of no confidence has fallen away. This really exposes what the root cause of this motion is, which is pure and petty politics and power grabbing.”
Cancellation of council meeting
Earlier this month, a special council meeting that was set to remove Odendaal through a motion of confidence was cancelled.
Odendaal is still challenging the calling of the special council meeting, saying due process was not followed.
More details in the report below:
