AIM leader Khusta Jack resigns from Bay mayoral committee

Abantu Integrity Movement leader Khusta Jack has resigned from the Nelson Mandela Bay mayoral committee.

Mayor Babalwa Lobishe confirmed his resignation, on the sidelines of a council meeting on Thursday.

Jack served as the corporate services political head. Lobishe said she had accepted Jack’s resignation.

“There has been a process where we’ve undertaken to engage on the failures of his department.

“Even yesterday, when we met as the GLU [government of local unity], we were raising those concerns in terms of how he’s performing, which then has a bearing on how the whole city flows,” she said.

“He’s supposed to have convened a meeting on the macro structure amendments, and he’s failed to do so.

“He’s supposed to have dealt with labour issues through the LLF [local labour forum], and he’s failed to do so.

“The safety of workers in all the depots — he’s failed to do so.

“He’s failed to take to the committee the reduction of labour costs through lawyers.

“He’s failed to make sure the institution advertises [vacancies] electronically to curb corruption.

“In fact, he’s been advocating we must continue with manual means of advertising, but we’re unable to track the adverts and who was shortlisted, and the electronic systems allow this.”

Lobishe said if Jack had not resigned, she would have fired him.

Before the meeting convened, Jack, who usually sits up front with the rest of the members of the mayoral committee, was seen looking for his newly allocated seat.

Eventually, Jack, whose party has only one seat, joined the rest of the ANC councillors at the back of the council chamber.

Councillors also whispered among themselves, saying they had only heard during the meeting that he was no longer a mayoral committee member

Earlier this week, members of the South African Municipal Workers Union convened a media briefing where they raised several issues, key among which was that the LLF was not convening, and workers’ safety.

Jack confirmed that he had stepped down, but declined to go into detail, saying he would comment at a later stage.

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

The Herald