Mayor paints grim picture of councillors under siege from crime and threats

Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Babalwa Lobishe has painted a grim picture of a city where councillors are expected to deliver services while facing violent crime, extortion and threats without adequate protection.

She was speaking at the funeral of Ward 27 councillor Sicelo Mleve.

He was gunned down in his office on Saturday.

Lobishe said she had challenged an oversight delegation comprising the Eastern Cape portfolio committee on co-operative governance, National Treasury and the auditor-general over the lack of protection afforded to public representatives.

She said the delegation had visited the metro to assess service delivery and governance.

However, she questioned how councillors were expected to fulfil their responsibilities when they operated in an environment plagued by organised crime.

“We’ve lost a councillor, a councillor that’s not been protected by the laws of the country.

“All councillors are not protected. The laws of this country do not allow us, when we are faced with the adversity of threats, to be fully protected.

“There are no safe houses provided for. It’s just a cosmetic way of dealing with the matters,” she said.

Lobishe said the city had earned a reputation as one of the country’s crime hotspots, with extortion syndicates disrupting major infrastructure projects, including Sanral developments.

She said national investigators had confirmed that criminal networks were delaying key projects, yet councillors continued to work in affected communities with little protection.

“A team of investigators from the national government was sent to Nelson Mandela Bay to deal with extortionists on Sanral projects and other mega projects that we’re holding, and indeed, it was confirmed that progress is derailed.

“We’re not given bulletproof vests, we’re not given cameras, nothing.

“There’s an expectation that we must deliver whatever they aspire to at a time and date they expect, not knowing the constraints councillors experience.”

She said councillors were under immense pressure from residents who expected immediate service delivery, despite vandalism and organised crime repeatedly crippling municipal infrastructure.

Lobishe cited the western parts of the metro, where residents had been without water for two weeks after a newly replaced pipeline was vandalised again.

She also pointed to persistent sabotage at Fishwater Flats, where the municipality had spent more than R20m on security measures that were being tampered with almost daily.

“Whether you talk sophisticated criminality, we feature there as a city.

“Whether you talk about inkabi, insurance relating [killings], the city features and yet there are many people who aspire to be councillors, but they don’t want to deal with that aspect.

“The fact that people will be elected and not be protected by the very same constituents they represent.

“Comrade Sicelo stood for his people. He stood for what progress is to his cluster.

“Now, we all live in fear,” Lobishe said.

ANC councillor and infrastructure and engineering political head Buyelwa Mafaya recalled a tense Ward 27 ANC branch general meeting (BGM) that shortlisted ward councillor candidates for the 2026 local government elections.

Mafaya, a close friend of Mleve, said he was not included on the shortlist of candidates whose names would be submitted to the community for final selection.

“During the BGM, we saw the older comrades walking out and soon realised that Sicelo and I didn’t have the numbers on our side.

“Sicelo said, let’s sit. This is democracy because in a democracy, when you don’t have the numbers on your side, you don’t win.

“Our hope was only for those who won to appreciate the ANC and not put their names up for selfish interests.”

However, moments after the meeting, she said a fellow party member made what she now believes was a chilling gesture.

“As Sicelo and I were talking about what had happened, someone called my name and gestured that a throat would be slit.

“They were all there. Members of Ward 27 were all there. I said, ‘It’s fine.’”

Mafaya said Mleve ultimately failed to make the shortlist of four candidates.

She also revealed that, in the days before his murder, rumours had been circulating that Mleve would not succeed at the next stage of the selection process, where community members would nominate their preferred councillor candidate.

“Little did we know he wouldn’t be successful because he would no longer be with us,” she said.

“We laughed it off because we thought we would simply mobilise community members to support a slate opposing Sicelo.”

Mleve’s funeral was held at the Feathermarket Hall and attended by ANC national executive (NEC) committee members such as Mduduzi Manana, who apologised to Mleve’s family for his murder while discharging his duties as a member of the ANC.

Others who spoke at the funeral included NEC member Stella Ndabeni and Tandi Mahambehlala, who both spoke of their time with Mleve in the ANC Youth League.

Ndabeni described Mleve as a dedicated ANC member.

“He had faults just like you and me, but one thing I’m certain of is he was not a coward, [he was] a straight talker.

“Most importantly, in light of ensuring we deliver quality services to the people we lead, he hounded us, wanting us to deliver services as a ward councillor.

“When Sicelo could see that wrong things were happening, he would tell you.

“Sicelo has been a volunteer of the ANC and unemployed and has never complained.

“He did not push the ANC aside when he didn’t get deployment because he knew his time would come, and he was not self-centred.”

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