Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Babalwa Lobishe survives, but what now?

After Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Babalwa Lobishe survived two no-confidence motions on Tuesday, the council is setting up an ad hoc committee to investigate claims that parliament’s requests for information were ignored.

The recommendation came from the ANC during a heated closed-door session of a council meeting on Tuesday.

Various parties will sit on the ad hoc committee.

A council ad hoc committee is a temporary group established by a governing body for a specific purpose.

Lobishe had earlier described the no-confidence motions as political grandstanding.

During the council meeting, she addressed councillors who had accused her of lying to parliament’s co-operative governance and traditional affairs portfolio committee last week.

She insisted she had not misled the committee.

At her appearance before the committee, Lobishe was grilled on her non-responsiveness to correspondence sent to her by Cogta portfolio committee chair Zweli Mkhize.

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

She also came under pressure over the municipality’s failure to respond to the committee’s repeated letters — the moment in which she blamed her two PAs and chief of staff for the dysfunction in her office.

During the meeting, Mkhize instructed speaker Eugene Johnson to prepare a report to be tabled at Tuesday’s meeting to discuss Lobishe’s lack of response.

Johnson chose to table the report in a confidential session, preventing the media and the public from observing the proceedings.

Insiders and recordings revealed the meeting as tense and heated, with the mayor fielding questions and defending herself against accusations.

After the meeting, Johnson confirmed that an ad hoc committee would be established according to a resolution of the council.

Four parties will sit on the committee, comprising the EFF, DA, ANC and ACDP.

“This committee will investigate and report back to the speaker within 14 days,” Johnson said.

Another report that sparked fierce debate was one on consequence management in the leasing of a transformer to Coega Steels, which was also discussed behind closed doors.

In a leaked recording, DA councillor Ondela Kepe accused Lobishe of lying.

“The parliament meeting speaks volumes to the nature and characteristics of the leadership we have in this city currently, and it’s rather sad,” Kepe said.

“Because for many years, many people have entrusted the ANC with their voice, but for the ANC to turn around and give them the calibre of leadership that we are seeing unfold in front of us, it’s not only a slap in the face of those benefits, but it is a deconstruction of everything that the ANC has done for it anyway.

“We have a mayor in this city, who has absolutely no qualms with sitting in front of the parliamentary committee and [allegedly] speaking lies.

“It’s a sad state of affairs, and it was shameful ... having to watch her speaking when it came to this particular issue.”

At this point, Lobishe interjected, challenging the council to point out where she had lied to parliament.

Kepe said Lobishe was at pains to explain her actions.

Lobishe again interjected, asking for examples.

“Can the councillor explain where I have lied?

“This is not expressed by emotion, but can he say where I lied to parliament?

“Where have I lied to parliament, or else I am going to take recourse on that.”

ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom said Lobishe had responded in parliament about the leasing of the transformer, which she said was irregular.

Lobishe then asked Johnson to protect her.

“Speaker, can you protect me because you’re allowing Grootboom to explain for Kepe, who is misleading this council about [the Cogta committee].”

With a raised voice, Johnson asked the councillors to sit down.

Kepe said he was getting to the point where the mayor had allegedly lied.

“The mayor initially denied that the process was illegal, but was eventually forced by the committee to admit she had been lying.

“That is a misrepresentation of the truth.

“Never mind what she said about the staff in her own office.

“That is an insult, by the way, to what I am saying to you now.”

Lobishe accused Kepe of misleading the council and said she did not deny that the leasing of the transformer was irregular.

“Can those responsible for the code of conduct of councillors take this matter up, look at the video and come back to the council?” Lobishe said.

During the Cogta meeting, Lobishe conceded that the decision to lease the municipality’s transformer to Coega Steels was irregular.

However, the concession did not come without pushback from MPs who pressed her on why she had signed a memo or lease before the item was brought to council for a decision.

At the Cogta meeting, Lobishe said: “Well, it is irregular, but we were to rectify it in council.”

At Tuesday’s meeting, Johnson sought to ease tensions in council, saying the recommendation on the transformer lease was not directed at Lobishe and that she was confused by the debate.

The recommendation stated that the decisions by former acting executive director of electricity and energy Tholi Biyela and former acting city manager Ted Pillay to lease a municipal transformer to Coega Steels without council approval or due diligence were unlawful, irregular, and misled Lobishe and the National Treasury.

It also says that Pillay violated the Municipal Finance Management Act, leading to irregular and wasteful expenditure, and that steps have been taken to recover the funds and ensure accountability, transparency and proper governance.

“The city manager in the last meeting was asked to table a report to our council on what consequence management was instituted against the officials,” Johnson said.

“I am not sure why we are discussing the issue of the executive’s involvement in this.”

However, Kepe said the reports presented to the committee and council failed to reflect the mayor’s role in the matter.

“She needs to be referred to the rules and ethics committee because what she has done and what she has omitted in parliament regarding this irregular process is on her and no one else.”

GOOD councillor Lawrence Troon accused Pillay of leaving out key details in the lease, including which bank account the Coega Steels payment should have been deposited into.

“There was no date on which the rental should be paid,” Troon said.

“If it were not for the CFO [Jackson Ngcelwane] who detected that, things would’ve continued.

“What I find strange is that Coega Steels is an international company, they decided to pay that money into their own [municipal] account. Surely there’s something wrong.”

It is understood that before the metro set up a separate account for the lease payments, Coega Steels deposited both the lease money and its monthly rates into the city’s bank account.

A separate account was then created to differentiate between the two payments.

“Criminal charges should be laid against Coega Steels,” Troon said.

“It can’t be that a company of that nature doesn’t know how leases are drawn up.

“What they did was to pay into their own [municipal] account.”

Lobishe asked when Ngcelwane had advised her on the Coega Steels matter.

“It’s a lie purported by the DA.

“Where was I advised by Ngcelwane?”

Ngcelwane did not sign the recommendations to lease the transformer but referred to the comments of his department contained in the memorandum.

He told Pillay and Biyela that before the city leased a transformer, the item needed to go to council.

ANC councillor Noxolo Koko said, looking at the report, it stated that on October 28 there was a council resolution that spoke to a progress report.

“My request is to give us time to look at this progress report and come back and guide the council because now there’s an unnecessary battle.”

Earlier in the day, Lobishe survived two attempts to remove her from office.

She said the motions were political grandstanding.

“I’m not surprised by their attitude.

“They’re here to criticise everything.”

Lobishe said she would make a representation to the committee.

“I’m okay.

“I will state my case there, which is quite good because at least I’ll have a better view of the story to tell than now; it’s been out there as if we’re not responsive and non-caring when the case is not as such.”

Lobishe said she was expected back in parliament in two weeks.

She survived the motions submitted by FF+ councillor Bill Harington and 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 deserved a mayor who was accountable and delivered basic services.

“Under the current mayor’s leadership council, the metro has faced a series of serious governance and service delivery failures,” Harington said.

“Firstly, there have been serious governance concerns, including the unlawful removal of critical municipal infrastructure and the freezing of bank accounts linked to allegations 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.”

He said that despite repeated warnings about ageing infrastructure, preventative maintenance was not prioritised.

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 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 municipal electricity infrastructure to a private entity.”

• Follow The Herald WhatsApp channel today and stay connected to the stories shaping our world.

The Herald