LETTER | Nelson Mandela Bay officials accused of conspiring to undermine mayor

APOLOGY: An unedited version of an open letter to ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, penned by one of our readers, ANC member Bongani Mini, was erroneously published on our website and social media platforms.

It contained direct claims against certain individuals that were untested. Although these were removed in the print version of the letter, they were mistakenly published in the digital versions.

We wish to apologise to the people mentioned in the letter, namely suspended Nelson Mandela Bay city manager Noxolo Nqwazi, former Mandela Bay Development Agency CEO Anele Qaba, council speaker Eugene Johnson and ANC member and former regional secretary Luyolo Nqakula.

The Herald extends its sincerest apologies.

Here is the edited version:

Com­rade Fikile Mbal­ula,

The recent ses­sion that played out in par­lia­ment wherein the Nel­son Man­dela Bay exec­ut­ive mayor, Babalwa Lobishe, accoun­ted for gov­ernance and ser­vice-deliv­ery-related issues in the metro is something to deeply reflect on.

Decis­ive action is required, oth­er­wise the ANC will con­tinue los­ing the major­ity of its guar­an­teed votes in the upcom­ing local elec­tions.

While we acknow­ledge the glar­ing admin­is­trat­ive chal­lenges and gaps relat­ing to the per­form­ance that were high­lighted in the brief­ing, it becomes import­ant that con­text is provided.

It is true that the mayor has failed to focus on sev­eral areas, res­ult­ing in poor per­form­ance — lack of ser­vice deliv­ery, poor gov­ernance and lack of account­ab­il­ity.

It is true that Lobishe has also failed to pri­or­it­ise the eco­nomy of the metro.

However, it is also true that she is being failed by her polit­ical party in the region which has left her vul­ner­able to cor­rupt indi­vidu­als who want to des­troy and cripple the muni­cip­al­ity.

Her crime is her recent stance and firm stand on pri­or­it­ising the eco­nomy and pre­ven­tion of job losses affect­ing the res­id­ents of Nel­son Man­dela Bay.

Lobishe’s crime is her firm stand against cor­rupt indi­vidu­als who want to bring back a crim­in­ally charged and sus­pen­ded city man­ager, Nox­olo Nqwazi, who is [allegedly] work­ing with the oppos­i­tion, the DA, in tar­nish­ing the image of the mayor and the ANC.

It has become evid­ent that most of the inform­a­tion provided to the par­lia­ment­ary com­mit­tee is old and related to projects and trans­ac­tions that pre­ceed Lobishe’s appoint­ment as mayor, when Nqwazi was in office in an act­ing capa­city, when she was a mem­ber of senior man­age­ment and when she was the city man­ager.

In their plan to des­troy gov­ernance and por­tray Lobishe as an incom­pet­ent mayor, they have divided the ANC into two fac­tions.

The speaker, Eugene John­son, and chief whip have demon­strated on a num­ber of occa­sions that they are not in sup­port of Lobishe.

The chief whip has been vocal about want­ing to take up the may­or­ship seat.

Both owe Nqwazi a lot and, together with Luy­olo Nqak­ula, are res­ol­ute on bring­ing back Nqwazi at whatever cost, and Lobishe stands against this cor­rup­tion.

The appalling response of the chief of staff to the intent of the exec­ut­ive mayor to sus­pend him leaves much to be desired.

His response only affirms that, indeed, he has been sab­ot­aging the mayor all along.

The act­ing city man­ager who has received the sup­port and endorse­ment of the mayor did not only fail to provide guid­ance and sup­port to Lobishe, but he dis­tanced him­self from activ­it­ies that are within his del­eg­a­tion of duties as the account­ing officer.

His con­duct and lack of account­ab­il­ity at the par­lia­ment­ary meet­ing showed that he is not fit to hold office.

The muni­cip­al­ity is not per­form­ing optim­ally, the budget is not spent effect­ively and money is returned to National Treas­ury because of the budget and treas­ury depart­ment, which holds the muni­cip­al­ity to ransom. It must be stated that this con­cern was raised by Lobishe to the pres­id­ent and to National Treas­ury a num­ber of times.

There is clearly a lot of col­lab­or­a­tion hap­pen­ing to cripple and des­troy not only the repu­ta­tion of the mayor, but also the muni­cip­al­ity and to deprive the res­id­ents of good ser­vice deliv­ery.

Lobishe needs com­pet­ent indi­vidu­als to sup­port her.

Although Lobishe is seem­ingly being failed by the act­ing city man­ager, she needs to move fast with regard to releas­ing Nqwazi and appoint a per­man­ent city man­ager.

There are cur­rently only three senior man­agers in the muni­cip­al­ity — the CFO, COO and a human set­tle­ments senior man­ager, who has only one month left before retir­ing.

This let­ter serves to warn you that the appear­ance and per­form­ance in par­lia­ment is the tip of the ice­berg and part of a polit­ical scheme to dis­lodge Lobishe, the pro­vin­cial chair and your­self.

Provide Lobishe with much-needed polit­ical sup­port to imple­ment con­sequence man­age­ment on all under­per­form­ing mem­bers of her admin­is­tra­tion, includ­ing her CFO, and strengthen her office with a com­pet­ent chief of staff and advisers.

Strengthen the coali­tion in the build-up to the local gov­ern­ment elec­tions.

Ensure that the entire regional ANC and Lobishe under­stand that the move­ment is in a part­ner­ship with other polit­ical parties and there must be respect for the part­ner­ship.

Also ensure that there are timeous stra­tegic inter­ac­tions held and all items dis­cussed are tracked and com­mit­ments are adhered to enabling sta­bil­ity. The time to act is now.

- Bongani Mini

● Mini is a mem­ber of the ANC and this is an extract of an open let­ter he has writ­ten to ANC sec­ret­ary-gen­eral Fikile Mbal­ula.