Parliamentary hearing unfair, says Nelson Mandela Bay mayor

Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Babalwa Lobishe has raised concerns over her treatment by parliament, telling the council that her administration was not given sufficient time to present information.

Lobishe was referring to her recent appearance before the co-operative governance and traditional affairs portfolio committee in March.

Addressing councillors on Tuesday, Lobishe maintained that while the metro welcomed oversight and remained committed to accountability and transparency, the process must be fair.

She said the city’s efforts to account were increasingly being undermined by defamation and the spread of unverified information on social media.

Lobishe appeared before the parliamentary committee to answer questions on her involvement in the municipality leasing the R25m municipal-owned transformer to a private company, Coega Steels.

She also answered questions about not responding to the committee’s repeated letters to the municipality.

This was the moment the situation turned uncomfortable for the mayor, as she shifted blame for the dysfunction in her office onto her two PAs and her chief of staff.

“As I have said, I welcome the robust engagement with parliament as a critical mechanism to strengthen accountability, transparency and co-operative governance across all spheres.

“I reiterate that I note with concern some of the behaviour that was displayed towards us by the committee, where we were not given time to give the necessary information.

“We are open to being oversighted, and we are open to providing all the necessary information, as long as everything is done in terms of the rules of government without making sure that the other sphere of government is belittled in the process, or given a fair chance in terms of the law.”

Lobishe said her administration had moved swiftly to submit all information requested by parliament, while tightening internal systems to ensure faster responses and stronger accountability from officials.

But in a pointed warning to council, Lobishe said the metro’s efforts to account were being undermined by what she described as defamation and the rise of social media platforms that distorted information.

“We’ve started to make sure that there’s agility in attending to matters that are coming into our office, and also, there’s agility in making sure that administrative leaders account for whatever action is taken.

“I want us at some point to look at how we are dealing with accountability, because as we are trying to account, we have been faced with a lot of defamation,” she said.

“We’ve been faced with a lot of social media scoops where we are not able to give a credible account, which is quite damaging to the very same institution.

“And I think, as the council at some point, we’ll have to look at how we can advance the debate of accountability and link it to the advancement of media and the tools attached to it.

“How social media would have an impact on how we discharge our accountability, such that credible reporting is reached in the process.”

Reacting to the mayor’s statement, DA councillor Siyasanga Sijadu said that after last week’s appearance before parliament Lobishe should hang her head in shame.

“Families have lost their income, lost their food due to perpetual power outages.

“Businesses are suffering under your leadership. The regression we’ve seen is a direct result of your failure to lead.

“Your lack of leadership was exposed. She [Lobishe] showed the whole country she can’t even run her own leadership, let alone 1.2-million residents.

“She avoids accountability by saying they were not given enough time, and it’s a blatant lie.

“I’m inclined to ask the council not to allow the mayor to come and address this council.

“She comes here, makes promises and lies to this council and lies to the people.”

GOOD councillor Lawrence Troon said the Cogta chair, Zweli Mkhize, was clear in that there was no leadership in the metro.

“He said there’s no governance taking place here.

“The MEC for Cogta also said there’s no governance and placed us on Section 154, which means you can’t govern yourself, you need support, and that means you’re failing the city.

“You’ve returned R1.2bn to the National Treasury, how different the city would look with that development.

“You’re not serious when it comes to serious governance,” Troon said.