Nqaba Bhanga elected mayor despite rivals’ attempts to buy votes

“Name your price. I’ll meet you anywhere and any time.”

This was the message sent to a DA councillor by a member of the Patriotic Alliance, who tried desperately to turn him before the crucial Nelson Mandela Bay mayoral vote yesterday.

But the attempt was in vain, with Nqaba Bhanga re-elected mayor at the special council meeting, which had to take place as per a ruling of the Port Elizabeth High Court.

The desperate attempts to get some DA councillors to spoil their ballots were part of the wheeling and dealing that took place behind the scenes before the meeting, which dragged on for almost seven hours.

Just before the meeting, former ANC councillor Andile Lungisa, Patriotic Alliance councillor Marlon Daniels and EFF councillor Amandlangawethu Madaka were seen caucusing outside the city hall.

Madaka was nominated by Daniels, and seconded by ANC councillor Wandisile Jikeka, as the mayoral candidate, resulting in a vote by secret ballot across six venues.

Bhanga had been nominated by COPE councillor Siyasanga Sijadu and the ACDP’s Lance Grootboom.

The Herald has seen text messages sent to DA councillor Tyrone Adams by the PA’s Neville Higgins, a former DA councillor who was instrumental in ensuring that now-deceased UDM councillor Mongameli Bobani was elected mayor previously.

The messages read: “My friend spoil jou ballet, vir, die PA help ons kallits asb, sal jou uitsort Gayton is hier, se net wat [ My friend, spoil your ballot. For the PA, help us for the coloureds please. We’ll sort you out, Gayton is here. Just say what (you want).”

He followed up with another that read: “Delete net niemand gaan jou verdink nie [Delete it, no-one will suspect you]. Name your price. Give a price. I’ll meet you anywhere, you just say where and what time.”

But Adams replied, saying: “Please brother, don’t bother me with such rubbish. I will never betray my party.”

Higgins and another former DA councillor-turned-PA member Trevor Louw allegedly went to DA councillor Shaun Soyes house on Wednesday night to also try to convince him not to vote for Bhanga.

Louw and Higgins also approached DA councillor Shirley Sauls.

Higgins and Louw turned against the DA in September 2018, when they sided with the ANC, EFF and the UDM coalition.

Soyes, when contacted on Thursday, said that after Higgins and Louw knocked on his door they had tried to convince him not to vote for Bhanga.

“They said it would be a secret ballot and nobody would know that I did not vote for Bhanga,” Soyes said.

He said he told them to “f**k off”.

Higgins, when contacted on the same number that the message was sent from, said he was not in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday night.

“I was in Knysna,” he said.

Asked about the WhatsApp message sent to Adams, he said: “Let me check my phone, it was not with me. I never saw that message.”

Louw did not respond to telephone calls or an SMS.

Daniels did not take calls or respond to WhatsApp messages regarding the alleged attempt to get the three councillors to spoil their votes.

The day started on a dramatic note, with the coalition government claiming during an early-morning media conference that it had uncovered what it said was a ploy to disrupt the meeting by only allowing Madaka’s nomination from the floor.

What followed was a postponement of the meeting, scheduled to start at 10am, to 1pm.

Then there were at least three adjournments, and a vote by secret ballot, with Bhanga garnering 62 votes and Madaka 57.

This means a DA councillor or one coalition partner did not vote for Bhanga as the DA, UDM, COPE, ACDP, UF and AIC have a combined 63 seats.

Addressing councillors after his election, Bhanga bemoaned the state of the city, saying under his watch there would not be any political interference.

He also vowed to crack the whip, saying wrongdoers would be held to account as there would be consequence management.

“Greed destroys communities. Our city was broken down because those in power broke every piece of our democracy and we watched.

“Today, after a collective of democrats, we’ve confirmed we’ll fight against tyranny and dictatorship.

“The first is to separate politics from the administration.

“We must allow administrators to be administrators. In this city, there’s been an overreach of this.

“Our city could’ve lost R1.6bn because they wanted to sit in this chair, drive Mercedes-Benz and have bodyguards.

“They didn’t care about the collapsing infrastructure of the city,” Bhanga  said.

Bhanga laid into the city’s supply chain department, saying there would be consequence management as he had discovered that an official sat with tender documents while millions of rand were lost.

“Those who’ve been working on the streets protecting us aren’t rewarded.

“Only those who steal from the poor are.

“Their time has come. We’ll deal with them.

“The time for those who don’t open the books is gone.

“We have to treat our staff with professionalism because they’ve been here for years and they know better than us.

“The fact that we’ve been borrowed votes doesn’t mean we know everything,” he said.

Yesterday’s meeting was called after high court acting judge Denzil Potgieter ordered council speaker Buyelwa Mafaya to ensure the meeting took place before today, with the election of a mayor the only item on the agenda.

Co-operative governance MEC Xolile Nqatha had dragged Bhanga and 14 others to court, challenging the legality of his election during a December 4 council meeting.

The DA later proposed the rerun of the election as an out-of-court settlement deal.

Potgieter declared Bhanga’s election as mayor invalid, but suspended his invalidity using Section 172(1)(b) (ii) of the constitution.

UDM councillor Luxolo Namette said he was happy about Bhanga’s re-election.

“Our coalition has 63 seats in council so going to the meeting, we knew we’d win,” Namette said.

Sijadu said Thursday felt like the end of a bad movie.

“For years, we have seen the gradual degeneration of council and the breakdown of the city.

“That chapter is now closed and one hopes this new chapter will see the repair of the city.

“On behalf of the Congress of the People, I would like to congratulate the speaker of council for finally doing her job efficiently,” Sijadu said.

AIC councillor Thsonono Buyeye congratulated Bhanga and wished him success.

“If he succeeds, then it means services are going to the people.

“He was elected through a democratic process and the task ahead is not an easy one,” Buyeye said.

Grootboom said the multiparty coalition had made a visible change in the state of the city since assuming power  last month.

“I was ecstatic,” he said.

“It was important for us to continue the work we’ve been doing for the past two months because services in the city had been stopped.”

Nqatha congratulated Bhanga.

“I am of the firm view that good governance cannot be secured based on a power grab but only through a democratic and due process which can help build foundations for stability in the interest of the people of the metro.

“I look forward to working with the metro leadership in strengthening co-operative governance.”

MATTER OF FACT: It was reported in this article that Patriotic Alliance member Neville Higgins sent WhatsApp messages to a DA councillor asking him to spoil his vote during the secret ballot vote for Nelson Mandela Bay mayor.

In one of the messages Higgins said “Gayton is here ...” implying he was also involved in the scandal.

PA president Gayton McKenzie says he does not know why Higgins used his name in the message as they had never met.

The Herald apologises to McKenzie for not calling him for comment on Thursday.

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