The Abantu Integrity Movement (AIM) has formally petitioned co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Velenkosini Hlabisa to dissolve the Nelson Mandela Bay council.
The party wants the municipality placed under administration, citing an alleged collapse in governance, financial management and basic service delivery.
On Tuesday, AIM leader Khusta Jack petitioned Hlabisa with an urgent request to replace the “floundering council” with an administrator in terms of Section 139(1)(c) and 139(5) of the constitution.
“The political leadership led by mayor Babalwa Lobishe was lambasted recently when it was summoned to appear before the portfolio committee on co-operative governance in parliament to account for its misgovernance of the largest municipality in the Eastern Cape.
“Only an urgent intervention by the minister can curb the ongoing collapse of the public infrastructure in the metro, which is bordering on violating the constitutional rights of ratepayers and the business community,” Jack said in his letter to Hlabisa.
He pointed out that the metro had racked up about R30bn in irregular, unauthorised, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, the highest of any municipality in the country.
The National Treasury has withheld the municipality’s equitable share grant of nearly R2bn, citing “persistent and serious violations of the Municipal Finance Management Act”.
Jack also highlighted the prolonged suspension of city manager Noxolo Nqwazi. She has been on suspension since February 2024.
He said this had left the municipality headless, with the administration failing by all metrics to deliver basic services to the community.
Jack said the two areas that caused residents and the business community the most aggravation — water services and electricity supply — fell under the domain of two spectacularly failing directorates.
“Infrastructure and engineering faces a critical shortage of technically skilled staff and has a 44% vacancy rate.
“In the last financial year, they managed to spend only a fraction of their capital budget.
“At a time when residents are suffering from almost daily power outages, the electricity and energy directorate is running at a loss of R1.5bn a year and is endangering the financial health of the entire municipality.”
Jack also touched on the allegations surrounding the R10m municipal transformer that was leased to a private company with the mayor’s approval.
Lobishe later admitted that the lease was irregular because it was done without the approval of council.
Jack, a former anti-apartheid stalwart and sole AIM councillor in the Bay, resigned as a member of the mayoral committee in May, accusing Lobishe’s administration of failing residents.
In a statement released on Wednesday, he said: “The deputy mayor, Gary van Niekerk, also has a pending case in court where he is charged with cyber fraud against the municipality and contravening the Municipal Finance Management Act.
“Meanwhile, the governing coalition is in turmoil.
“While residents are struggling with brown water in their taps because of broken infrastructure and face prolonged electricity outages, the mayor and her deputy are busy with their ugly public spat.
“They are not on speaking terms with each other and are exchanging bitter recriminations in the media, blaming each other for the service delivery collapse.
“While the ship is sinking, they still have time for petty political battles.
“That is why we have requested minister Hlabisa to put all the politicians in the governing coalition out of their misery.
“The only way to stem the infrastructure collapse is to install an administrator who will steady the ship,” Jack said.
Lobishe and Hlabisa’s spokesperson, Pearl Maseko-Binqose, had not responded to a request for comment by the time of publication
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