Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Babalwa Lobishe survived two attempts to remove her from office during a council meeting on Tuesday.
She survived the motions submitted by FF+ councillor Bill Harington and ACDP’s Lance Grootboom.
On Harington’s motion to remove her, 48 councillors voted in favour while 63 voted against it.
For Grootboom’s motion, 48 supported it while 64 rejected the motion.
Harington said residents of the metro deserve a mayor who is accountable and delivers basic services.
“Under the current major’s leadership council, the metro has faced a series of serious governance and service delivery failures.
“Firstly, there have been serious governance concerns, including the unlawful removal of critical municipal infrastructure and the freezing of bank accounts linked to allocations of fraud.
“These matters have significantly damaged the credibility of this institution.
“Secondly, residents of Nelson Mandela Bay continue to suffer from unreliable and unsustainable water supply.
“Communities across the metro regularly experience water interruptions, something that should never be normal in a city of this size.
“Thirdly, and most recently, we have witnessed major electricity infrastructure failures, businesses suffered major losses, and the residents were left in darkness,” Harington said.
He said that despite repeated warnings about ageing infrastructure, preventative maintenance was not prioritised.
GOOD Councillor Lawrence Troon said the vote was a test for people with integrity.
“You have some of your coalition partners who come at nighttime, and they speak about their unhappiness, but during the daytime, they make as if they are happy.
“Of particular importance, Abantu Integrity Movement, is it not here?
“A person who walked with the great Nelson Mandela, and we thought that he would be someone with substance, but today, there’s nothing.
“Secondly, those seven DA councillors are absent not by accident.
“It was a plan not to be here, and what we want the residents of the metro to know is the DA is selling them out.”
PA councillor Alvera de Vos said councillors were entrusted to lead the metro with integrity, dignity and accountability.
“Yet we have witnessed it is the very opposite for the first citizens of the metro to go on national TV and openly admit to irregularities in due process is not just a lack of judgment, it is a clear step of no confidence in their own leadership.
“It is an admission that the very same system to protect our people has been compromised. The people of this metro are tired.”
De Vos said people’s tolerance has been stretched to its limits.
Grootboom said the mayor had failed to exercise effective political oversight over the maintenance and management of critical municipal infrastructure.
“The repeated collapse of electricity supply within a short period demonstrated a systematic failure to maintain, to protect the municipality’s electricity transmission network, despite earlier collapses and clear warning signs regarding the state of municipal infrastructure.”
Grootboom said the mayor failed to ensure the urgent appointment of service providers to implement a comprehensive inspection, maintenance, and refurbishment programme for the municipal pylons and transmission lines.
“The repeated electricity outages have caused significant hardship for residents, businesses and workers across Nelson Mandela Bay, and they undermine our local economy.
“The mayor has failed to provide decisive leadership in addressing persistent water outages and the broader deterioration of municipal infrastructure, the serious concerns regarding governance and transparency relating to leasing of a municipal electricity infrastructure to a private entity, like further trust and leadership in the municipality last week.”
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