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Barely three months into the job, MBDA acting chief executive Unathi Peter is already on the back foot, with the agency managing the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium achieving just 57% of its second-quarter performance targets while millions in flagship projects stall.
Facing tough questions from councillors, the Mandela Bay Development Agency blamed bureaucratic red tape within the municipality for nearly R100m in unpaid stadium-related claims — even as it spent a fraction of its capital budget on key developments, including the Baakens Valley zip line and the long-promised amphitheatre at the Bay stadium.
Peter presented a performance management report at an economic development, tourism and agriculture committee meeting on Tuesday.
During his presentation, Peter said “elements of suspicion” had contributed to delays in payments to the agency for its services at the stadium.
“Operationally, the city is not geared to run the stadium and at times I feel that causes problems when we’re dealing with our claims.
“There’s an element of suspicion — why did you do this, why did you do that — because we are a commercial entity," he said.
The agency is required to pay the city R17.2m in generated revenue through the stadium.
The budget for the stadium is managed by the metro’s budget and treasury department.
The MBDA, as the current managing agent, makes claims against that budget after covering event-related and operational expenses.
According to Peter, claims are meant to be processed within 30 days.
However, the MBDA is still owed R42.8m from the 2023/2024 financial year, R49.8m from the 2024/2025 financial year, and a further R7.6m from the current financial year.
“In submitting our claims to the city, we’ve come across many challenges throughout the years.
“I don’t think the agency itself is innocent. I’m not going to put my name on the block and say everything is 100%.
“But I do think a lot more can be done if we work together and find a mutual solution.”
Speaking after the committee meeting, Bay chief financial officer Jackson Ngcelwane said the MBDA was aware of the documentation required before payments could be processed.
“I do not have the MBDA next to me when we are being audited. They know that for any payment, there has to be proper documentation,” he said.
Ngcelwane said payments to the agency were being prioritised.
“We told the agency last year what we were doing to fast-track these payments.
“They wrote to us, and we responded in December.
“That letter was acknowledged and there was no expression of unhappiness.”
The management of the stadium became contentious in 2025 when mayor Babalwa Lobishe attempted to remove the MBDA as the managing agent, triggering a court battle.
The court ordered a handover process that was due to be completed in October, but the stadium has still not been transferred.
The budget performance report showed that the agency had spent only 6% of its R6m allocation for the Baakens Valley zip line programme and just 3% of a capital budget allocation for a project in Schauderville.
Only 1% of the R24.8m budgeted for the stadium amphitheatre has been spent.
Overall, the agency achieved 57% of its key performance indicator targets for the second quarter.
During the meeting, DA councillor Masixole Zinto said some of the underspending was inexplicable.
“Who does not want a zip line in Gqeberha, and yet for some reason the MBDA can’t seem to make any progress on this?” he said.
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