Nelson Mandela Bay executive mayor Babalwa Lobishe.
(Photo: Supplied) 
After arriving an hour late for an important city council meeting on Thursday, executive mayor Babalwa Lobishe prompted speaker Eugene Johnson to “just cancel” the meeting as none of the needed reports were ready.
This continues the trend of the past few months when crucial governance documents, like the budget, were either produced late or finalised late, prompting more and more adjournments of city council meetings.
Lobishe and Pillay had allowed for the council meeting to start without their being present. Only after the leader of the Democratic Alliance in the metro, Rano Kayser, exclaimed that “this was not a banana municipality”, did speaker Eugene Johnson agree to call the pair to find out what was going on.
They arrived only after 3pm, while the meeting was scheduled to start at 2pm.
Crucial agenda items
On the agenda were several crucial items. These included an adjustment budget, the new board for the Mandela Bay Development Agency (MDBA), the contract for the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium’s management and the suspension of the city manager.
Last week, days before a long-awaited rugby game at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium between the Springboks and Italy, Lobishe cancelled the MBDA’s contract to manage the stadium. She conceded, when taken to court on an urgent basis, that she had to comply with a notice period. The MBDA’s control of the stadium was restored within a day of the Test match.
After Lobishe and Pillay arrived, Kayser said he wanted Pillay to confirm under oath that reports to discuss the future of the city manager were not ready.
But before Pillay could reply, Lobishe said: “The items are not ready, just adjourn the meeting,” addressing speaker Eugene Johnson. Johnson complied despite several objections.
Disciplinary hearing
A disciplinary hearing against the metro’s city manager, Dr Noxolo Nqwazi, began on 14 May 2024 after Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana demanded that action be taken against Nqwazi after her arrest by the Hawks in 2022. He made this a condition for the release of R781-million in grants to the metro in that year.
In the following financial year, the metro lost R430-million in grant funding because of underspending.
Nqwazi was arrested for her alleged role in the unlawful signing off on a R24-million tender for toilets in informal settlements. The tender — awarded during the pandemic-related National State of Disaster — was flagged by the Special Investigating Unit.
The NMB metro has had three coalition governments since the municipal elections in 2021. The first was led by the ANC, the second by the DA and the third by an ANC-EFF coalition, with the National Alliance’s Gary van Niekerk as mayor. At the end of 2024, after Van Niekerk was arrested for fraud and contravening the Municipal Finance Act, Lobishe was elected mayor.
Wasted costs
Lance Grootboom from the ACDP said Johnson’s office should be held accountable for the wasted costs of the meeting, which would include payment to the company responsible for the meeting’s audiovisual broadcast.
Grootboom said they had received notice of the meeting on 4 July, and an agenda for it had been issued on Wednesday.
Councillor Bill Harrington from the Freedom Front Plus said the meeting would have cost about R30,000.
He said there was an item on the agenda from the FF+ to stop the unlawful extension of the present acting director for electricity’s term to more than 15 months.
“This, too, wasn’t considered,” Harrington said. He said the acting term could not be longer than six months. DM