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Nelson Mandela Bay’s newest acting city manager, Charity Sihunu, was warned that she was stepping into a snake park as the council endorsed her secondment during a tense council meeting on Wednesday.
Sihunu, the acting deputy director-general of the Eastern Cape co-operative governance department, has been seconded to the metro until May 31 by co-operative governance and traditional affairs MEC Zolile Williams.
Councillors endorsed her secondment during a debate behind closed doors at the Feather Market Centre.
Sihunu has been handed the weighty task of stabilising a metro suffering from governance failures and flooding.
Welcoming her into the city, GOOD councillor Lawrence Troon told Sihunu she was entering a snake park.
This was according to a leaked recording of the meeting.
“Don’t be like your predecessor, Ted Pillay,” he said.
“Don’t sign off when people ask you to do wrong things. You’ll be in trouble.
“You’ll find all sorts of snakes coming to you. You are in a snake park.
“You are in danger here, and it’s either you’ll leave with your reputation intact or you will leave with being charged.”
In a bizarre twist, during the closed session, deputy mayor Gary van Niekerk told councillors that he had it on good authority that State Security would be investigating council leaks.
“We keep hearing there was leaked audio from this meeting.
“People are recording. That needs to be stopped.
“I have it on good authority that parliament will send the State Security to this council to come and find out who these people are that leak audios to the media.”
Meanwhile, ANC councillor Gamalihleli Maqula said since the first secondment of former acting city manager Mandla George, the terms of reference for secondment had been to deal with suspended city manager Noxolo Nqwazi.
She has been on suspension since 2024.
Maqula said this issue must be Sihunu’s priority.
“We do have a city manager in this city,” Maqula said. “Acting city manager, that’s one of your priorities you should deal with to make sure we conclude this matter.
“You know what’s happened in parliament from the first episode to the second episode.
“Part of our issues is not dealing with the city manager.
“We are paying Nqwazi for sitting at home. Before any other matter, you need to deal with that.”
EFF councillor Siya Mosi said: “You’ve come where we are dealing with a disaster.
“Some of those who came before you decided to sacrifice our own people. We only want a straightforward person who deals with the interests of the metro.
“You must not be a pawn.”
During an open session, councillors squabbled over the flooding disaster and where recognition for the work done so far should go.
Lobishe said the full extent of damage was still being quantified, with the municipality awaiting assistance from the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA).
She said overwhelmed infrastructure systems and recurring disasters posed a growing threat.
“But I want to stand here boldly and say operationally there is a lot of money we’ve already spent to make sure services and repairs are done and continue in the affected areas.
“The disruption of basic services infrastructure, including water and electricity, has been the most concerning as it has hit our residents in the pocket.”
She said discussions were under way on removing hazardous trees from the private properties of indigent households, adding that the municipality was aware of the hardship residents faced when they could not access water despite dams being full.
“The situation is not in our control at the moment, which we’re mitigating with the engineering teams to channel the water through the reservoirs.”
Responding to Lobishe, DA councillor Siyasanga Sijadu said a chain was only as strong as its weakest link, and unfortunately, the weakest link was in the mayor.
“This past week, we had one of the most successful JOC [joint operations committee] operations that I have seen,” Sijadu said.
“You had a team of officials who went above and beyond the call of duty.
“Under trying times, [acting executive director for safety and security Shadrack] Sibiya and his team held the fort and proved that there are still capable men and women in this city who just need to be led well.
“But unfortunately, we have a leadership lacuna in this city.
“Even in the face of one vile political head who is an extension of the mayor, the JOC didn’t collapse.
“But do you know when it collapsed? When the mayor showed up.”
Lobishe hit back, saying she would not take the fall for a leadership lacuna in the city.
“It is this council. I was in a meeting with the president when this council decided to collapse itself to choose a CFO that has not been a CFO.
“So the lacuna was made by you as council, not by me.”
She was referring to Jackson Ngcelwane being appointed as acting city manager at the time for 14 days, an appointment he later refused.
Lobishe was in Ekurhuleni with President Cyril Ramaphosa at the time when the council made the decision.
Ngcelwane holds the position of budget and financial accounting senior director and chief financial officer.
However, though he provisionally accepted the CFO position, the contract has not yet been finalised due to remuneration concerns, as the upper salary limits for the post are lower than his current earnings as a senior director.
According to a leaked report on Sihunu, Lobishe said the secondment would have financial implications for the municipality, including costs for tools of trade, accommodation, subsistence and travel.
Sihunu was the municipal manager of the Blue Crane Route municipality in 2021 and was previously seconded to the Bay city manager’s office as a senior manager in 2012.
Nqwazi’s suspension more than two years ago has cost the Bay municipality more than R10m.
Nqwazi has earned R6.7m since she was placed on precautionary suspension in February 2024.
George’s secondment cost the city R1.2m for the six months he acted in the position in 2024, and Pillay was paid R1.49m for his six-month acting period in 2025.
The city has already spent R882,000 on legal fees in the Nqwazi matter.
Williams also tasked Sihunu with:
- Assisting the city in concluding the disciplinary process against Nqwazi;
- Ensuring efficient operational systems are put in place in the supply chain management unit;
- Assisting with measures to achieve a positive audit outcome;
- Increasing revenue sustainability; and
- Enforcing a turnaround plan for the city’s Integrated Public Transport System.
Before endorsing her appointment, EFF councillor Khanya Ngqisha asked that Sihunu’s appointment be effective from May 13 instead of May 8.
“The starting date is today up until May 31 to protect ourselves against any legalities,” Ngqisha said.
However, council chief whip Wandisile Jikeka said it was the council that had asked for the secondment, and Sihunu was the one.
“We’re not doing it for the first time.
“George was here and it took us three weeks to bring it.
“If they want us to take that route, it will have an impact on the decisions we’ve taken up until now.
“Let’s endorse the secondment and move to the next item.”
Maqula said the council’s resolutions did not end back when it appointed Ngcelwane as acting city manager.
“Council said we appoint the CFO for a period of 14 days and requested Section 154 help.
“There’s nothing wrong, we’re following our resolution.
“Unfortunately, Ngqisha was not here when we took that resolution.”
Troon said Williams should have been in the council to table the secondment himself.
Lobishe said she did not know why speaker Eugene Johnson had opened the discussion when the council had already agreed on the secondment.
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