Nelson Mandela Bay mayor hits back at claims she misled parliament

Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Babalwa Lobishe has pushed back against accusations that she misled parliament, insisting she was not dishonest, as she submitted a detailed report to the portfolio committee on co-operative governance and traditional affairs.

She was addressing concerns raised during a heated engagement earlier in May.

In her response, Lobishe confirmed the suspension of her chief of staff and defended her conduct before the committee.

She argued that claims she had misled MPs effectively amounted to accusing her of lying as political pressure continued to mount over governance and accountability in the metro.

On May 14, co-operative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) portfolio committee chair Zweli Mkhize instructed Lobishe to submit several reports.

These included one regarding a forged signature in a municipal circular advertising two traffic officer posts, another pertaining to a R1.7bn write-off and a third regarding senior managers acting in positions without council approval.

In his letter to the mayor, Mkhize detailed 15 resolutions adopted after the committee’s May 6 meeting during which concerns were raised about political infighting in the Bay, acting appointments, alleged irregular expenditure and governance failures.

Lobishe was given a deadline of May 21 to respond.

It is understood that Lobishe, as well as members of her mayoral committee, spent much of Wednesday last week debating how to craft responses to the requests.

It was a scheduled mayoral committee meeting.

However, insiders said the meeting never progressed properly through the agenda, with much of the day instead spent drafting the response to parliament.

The meeting is said to have concluded just before midnight.

In her leaked response to parliament, Lobishe confirmed that her chief of staff, Mlungisi Lumka, had been placed on precautionary suspension while an investigation into him was under way.

Lumka was suspended on March 31 after Lobishe accused him of gross dereliction of duty following tough questions about her failure to respond on several occasions to correspondence sent after a Cogta committee meeting on March 25.

She had blamed Lumka and her assistants for the failure to respond.

In response, in a 14-page letter, Lumka accused Lobishe of having deliberately misled the parliamentary committee.

Lobishe wrote that the outcome of the investigation into Lumka would be provided to the portfolio committee.

During her May 6 appearance, Lobishe was questioned on statements she had made in council alleging unfair treatment by Cogta.

She was then asked to point out the moments that MPs had treated her unjustly.

Answering this, she wrote that she contended that the word “misleading” — considering its literal meaning and context in which it was used — was hurtful to the character of the standing of her office.

“Throughout the session, the mayor is of the view that each time the members of the committee implied that she was misleading parliament, she perceived this as being accused of lying to parliament,” Lobishe wrote.

“The consequences of the sessions held with the portfolio committee in March 2026 spilt into the council meetings as well.

“The city respectfully believes that even though we were not furnished with the rules of order governing the portfolio committee and therefore not aware of the permissible language allowed within the portfolio committees, the committee might have reasonably and possibly gone beyond what can be considered as acceptable, and the aggravating factor is that the chairperson did not afford the necessary protection.

“The city remains committed to diligently assisting the committee and complying with all its requests to ensure that the committee’s oversight role is not undermined.”

The mayor was also asked to furnish the committee with a detailed report on the chief financial officer’s forged signature in a municipal circular advertising two traffic officer positions.

During their appearance, CFO Jackson Ngcelwane told the committee he did not know how his signature had appeared on the circular.

In her response, Lobishe said a PP (by proxy) signature was typically annexed to a vacancy notice or circular by the relevant municipal official responsible for those issues.

She said the CFO’s decision not to accept the acting city manager role was not formally institutionalised or communicated to staff.

This meant officials continued to operate without knowing he was not serving as the acting city manager.

Mkhize also requested that speaker Eugene Johnson provide a report on the recommendations of the ad hoc committee established by the council to investigate Lobishe’s alleged non-responsiveness to parliament.

The ad hoc committee was established to investigate Lobishe’s repeated non-responsiveness to several letters the committee had written to her, which she had blamed on her staff, saying they had never forwarded the emails to her.

The city said the investigation was still under way regarding this matter.

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