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Despite accusing Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Babalwa Lobishe of sabotaging service delivery, blocking his initiatives and becoming the coalition government’s biggest obstacle, deputy mayor Gary van Niekerk says he will not resign, insisting leaving would only worsen the city’s crisis.
In a letter to Eastern Cape co-operative governance and traditional affairs MEC Zolile Williams before a provincial intervention meeting this week, Van Niekerk accused Lobishe of repeatedly blocking service delivery programmes, shutting him out of decision-making and frustrating practical interventions ready for implementation.
Williams’ spokesperson, Pheello Oliphant, confirmed the MEC had received the letter.
“This item will be discussed on Wednesday when [co-operative governance] deputy minister Dickson Masemola visits the metro,” Oliphant said.
In his letter, Van Niekerk wrote that Lobishe’s leadership had become a barrier to fixing the metro’s worsening governance and service delivery failures.
The National Alliance (NA) leader said when he accepted the role of deputy mayor, he did so with the firm commitment of serving residents.
“Throughout my tenure, I have remained loyal to the mayor and have consistently supported her leadership in the interests of maintaining stability in the municipality.
“Even where I held differing views, I chose to support collective leadership because I believed that political unity would provide the stability necessary for the administration to deliver meaningful outcomes for our residents.
“I exercised patience, restraint and professionalism, despite assurances that I would be afforded greater opportunities to contribute meaningfully to the strategic direction of the municipality and to lead programmes aimed at improving governance and accelerating service delivery.”
Van Niekerk said he spent months working with municipal officials to develop service delivery interventions.
Central to these was a rapid turnaround strategy focused on rehabilitating the metro’s 100 priority routes by repairing potholes, painting road markings, restoring faulty streetlights, curbing illegal dumping, clearing rubble, cutting grass, maintaining verges and improving the safety and cleanliness of key transport corridors.
Van Niekerk also highlighted what he described as a significant administrative breakthrough, saying that for the first time in years the municipality’s operational budget had been loaded at the start of the new financial year, allowing departments to begin spending immediately rather than face delays.
He said Lobishe had prevented him from rolling out the turnaround strategy, though it had the support of municipal officials.
“My efforts to implement meaningful service delivery programmes have been consistently obstructed by the mayor.
“Despite repeated engagements and my continued efforts to secure support for practical interventions, including the rapid turnaround strategy, these initiatives were either withheld from implementation or prevented from proceeding.
“As a direct consequence, my ability to fulfil the responsibilities entrusted to me as deputy mayor has been significantly constrained.
“It is deeply concerning that programmes specifically designed to improve the daily lives of our residents have repeatedly failed to receive the political support necessary for implementation.
“The consequence is that our communities continue to experience deteriorating roads, failing infrastructure, poor service delivery and declining public confidence, despite practical solutions having been developed, supported by the administration and ready for execution.
“I have now reached a point where remaining silent would amount to failing in my constitutional responsibility to the people of Nelson Mandela Bay,” he said.
Since Van Niekerk’s letter to Williams, some members of the ruling coalition, who did not want to be identified, have raised concerns about the consequences of the fallout.
The coalition is made up of the ANC, with 47 seats, NA (3), EFF (8), DOP, PAC and AIC, with one seat each.
However, Ward 27 councillor Sicelo Mleve was shot dead in his office in June.
Without the NA, the coalition would be left with only 58 seats.
After the 2021 local government elections, the ANC had 48 seats, the same number secured by the opposition DA.
Responding to questions on Monday on why he did not resign from the coalition, Van Niekerk said leaving would not serve the cause of service delivery.
“When we as the NA analysed what our unhappiness is; that’s not the coalition.
“We have a brilliant relationship with the coalition. I have a brilliant relationship with the ANC, locally, provincially and nationally.
“So, leaving the coalition wouldn’t help.
“We have encouraged the mayor that we need to make a huge statement.
“We need to turn this city around, and we need to show the intent, and just as I was about to launch it, she just pulled the rug from under me.”
Van Niekerk said that in turning around a city, politicians needed the buy-in of officials, which he had.
He said the coalition had functioned well, pointing out that none of its partners had threatened to withdraw.
“It’s silly season now. It’s election season.
“When she was deputy mayor, I allowed her to do whatever she needed to do in that office.
“I should be afforded the same courtesy in terms of what happens in the deputy mayor’s office.
“If it means me removing my picture from the poster that was going to go out, if it means putting two photos there, mine and hers, we could have done that, but the whole project was scrapped.”
Van Niekerk served as mayor from May 2023 to October 2024, with Lobishe as his deputy.
He said he understood that Lobishe had been under a lot of political pressure, but service delivery must come before politics.
He maintained that all he wanted was a mayor who listened, adding that his phone calls and messages often went unanswered.
“The coalition is not the problem. Sadly, it is the mayor. That’s the problem.
“If this is what it takes for her to change [her] ways, she doesn’t reply, and you know, this non-responsive thing.
“I WhatsApp her all the time. She doesn’t take my calls. We can’t be treated this way.”
Lobishe could not be reached for comment by the time of publication.
The Herald
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