DA leader John Steenhuisen talks about the party’s plans to take over Nelson Mandela Bay. (Photo: Andisa Bonani) The DA has set its sight on taking over the government in Nelson Mandela Bay in a bid to rescue the city from what it’s leaders called chaos caused by coalitions.
This was the take-home message from the DA’s leadership after Andrew Whitfield was elected Eastern Cape leader and Yusuf Cassim cemented his position as provincial chair, both for a second term, at the party’s provincial congress at the weekend.
MPL Vicky Knoetze and MP Mlindi Nhanha were elected deputy provincial leaders, while MP Baxolile Nodada, MPL Chantel King and Nelson Mandela Bay councillor Rano Kayser were elected deputy chairs.
/file/attachments/orphans/Leadership_744535.jpg "Newly elected DA Eastern Cape leaders, from left: Mlindi Nhanha, Vicky Knoetze, Andrew Whitfield, Yusuf Cassim, Baxolile Nodada, Chantel King and Rano Kayser. (Photo: Andisa Bonani)")
Outgoing DA leader and Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen said the party has big plans to win an outright majority in the city in the local government elections set for later this year.
Steenhuisen said the constant changing of mayors has caused instability which could be seen in the lack of service delivery in communities.
“The city has been characterised by revolving doors, with different mayors and different coalition configurations. This instability has led to a situation where, the city that should be the economic heartbeat of the Eastern Cape is a shadow of its former self, where even the most basic forms of government are not taking place.”
Steenhuisen reflected on how the DA was ousted from government in the metro in less than a year after taking over from the ANC.
During a chaotic council meeting in May 2023, the DA’s Retief Odendaal was voted out as mayor.
“Nelson Mandela Bay had two false starts where the DA got in and things started to turn around and then through the manoeuvrings, we got removed from office very quickly and the municipality declined.”
In 2018, a motion of no confidence against mayor Athol Trollip succeeded after DA councillor Mbulelo Manyati abstained from voting.
This, Steenhuisen said, prevented the metro from becoming one of the best-run councils, like the neighbouring Kouga municipality which is currently under the DA’s political leadership.
“The best-run municipality, Kouga, demonstrates that we can get it done, hence we appeal to the people of Nelson Mandela Bay to give us the majority this time so they can have the stability that’s needed,” he said.
“We’ve been able to demonstrate in the Eastern Cape that politics of division, nationalism and of trying to say you have to vote for a certain party based on race, language or culture don’t find a fit in this province.
“We are stronger if we stand together no matter the skin colour, and if we all retreat to our racial lines we’ll end up with a really fragmented political system where you’ll have parties for black people, IsiZulu or Afrikaans speaking people, which is not what we are as South Africans.”
Whitfield said their core message of getting the city working again is meant to put the basics in place such as delivering services, creating jobs, making communities safe and fighting corruption.
/file/attachments/orphans/Whitfield_151513.jpg "Andrew Whitfield has been elected provincial leader for a second term. (Photo: Andisa Bonani)")
“We have a strong mayoral candidate in Retief Odendaal who delivered [the first] unqualified audit in the city in 12 years. We will give the voters the best possible offer we can with the best team and manifesto about the painful experience of governing in coalitions and take that message of why it’s so important that voters elect a majority government so we can have some stability to build a future of prosperity just like in Kouga.”
Whitfield said Kouga managed to raise a R200-million loan to repair roads, which was unheard of in the province.
Cassim said that, based on their internal polling, the electorate was tired of voting for smaller parties who leverage their council seats for positions.
/file/attachments/orphans/Cassim_885361.jpg "Yufus Cassim elected provincial chair for a second term. (Photo: Andisa Bonani)")
“All of our internal polling shows that our message is landing with the voters who are tired of placing their trust in smaller parties who turn around and leverage their support in order to negotiate positions and fulfil their personal agendas. We’ve seen how that kind of decimation or division of the opposition vote has destroyed not only service delivery but the entire make-up of how the government operates.”
Cassim said the involvement of the general public in how things are done in municipalities has shifted the political landscape.
“People are involved in how municipalities are working in an untoward manner due to the gaps that have been created through the coalition governments, that are in many instances put together for agendas that have nothing to do with the interests of the people.”
Cassim said people are uniting behind what they believe is the best chance to bring change in their community.
“We’ve just seen new political parties being launched, it’s the same movie that played before the previous election and voters don’t believe it’s in their best interest to risk another five years of coalition chaos where smaller parties sell them out to put the ANC back into government.” DM