Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Babalwa Lobishe. (Photo: Facebook / Babalwa Lobishe) If you’re keeping score at home, Nelson Mandela Bay’s mayor, Babalwa Lobishe, has just ticked off another square on her political bingo card: being accused of misleading Parliament.
On Saturday in Cape Town, Democratic Alliance MP Marina van Zyl, the party’s spokesperson on cooperative governance and traditional affairs, filed a criminal complaint against Lobishe under the Powers and Privileges Act over her March appearance before Parliament.
The mayor is already under investigation by the Hawks in Gqeberha after former Good party leader Siyanda Mayana laid a complaint against her in January, raising concerns about her bank account being “frozen”.
Van Zyl said she had opened a criminal case against Lobishe because, “We cannot allow Parliament to be misled without any consequences. It is a criminal offence. Parliament is the highest accountability forum in South Africa. She was meant to account [and] provide information.
“When her own chief of staff disputed her, ‘with evidence’ as was stated in his 14-page account of it, it is clear that Mayor Lobishe put her own interests ahead of that of the people of the Bay.”
Lobishe could not be reached for comment. However, on Facebook on Tuesday, 7 April, the mayor posted, “In times of scrutiny, leadership must lean into accountability, not retreat from it.
“Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality has appeared before Parliament in full respect of its constitutional obligations and the critical role of oversight institutions. This is not a moment of crisis, it is a moment of accountability in action.
“We remain committed to transparency, to answering difficult questions with honesty, and to correcting where improvement is required.”
The accusation of misleading Parliament stems from Lobishe’s appearance before the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) on 24 and 25 March. The proceedings centred on a pattern of chronic failure within the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality and a documented history of unanswered correspondence.
On 25 March, Lobishe issued her chief of staff, Mlungisi Lumka, with a formal notice of intention to suspend him, accusing him of gross dereliction of duty for failing to keep her informed of the committee’s correspondence. He responded within 24 hours with serious allegations of his own — which, if true, raise questions about Lobishe’s fitness to hold office.
Lobishe’s appearance before the Cogta committee was intended to get clarity on a litany of municipal failures, including a controversial R25-million transformer lease to a private company, chronic underspending, the withdrawal of grants and evergreen contracts.
The meeting on 24 March got off to a tense start because the mayor’s office had failed to respond to letters from the committee.
Instead of taking accountability, Lobishe scapegoated a secretary, whom she claimed had failed to bring the committee’s letters to her attention, and Lumka, whom she accused of failing to keep her informed.
In his now widely circulated letter, Lumka wrote, “You lied in Parliament as though you have some kind of ‘impunity insurance’ that allows you to act without consequence. Tolerating it will amount to complicity.”
Municipal spokesperson Sithembiso Soyaya previously said preliminary internal assessments found that administrative and process breakdowns in the executive mayor’s office were responsible for the delays and inconsistencies in responding to parliamentary correspondence.
These “breakdowns” culminated in a costly oversight: Lobishe and her delegation travelled to Cape Town for a committee meeting that had already been postponed. Because the group failed to check their emails, the wasted trip resulted in an estimated R80,000 in travel expenses.
The municipal council has since resolved that an ad hoc committee — comprised of the ANC, DA, ACDP and EFF — will investigate the mayor’s office for non-responsiveness to a letter from Parliament.
Parliamentary rebuke
Adding to the pressure on Lobishe, the chairperson of the Cogta portfolio committee, Dr Zweli Mkhize, lashed out at her description of the process as “unfair”. Mkhize countered on 2 April that the committee’s role was to ensure rigorous accountability, noting that leadership must be ready to face “uncomfortable” scrutiny rather than deflect it.
/file/attachments/orphans/WhatsAppImage2026-04-07at154656_852209.jpeg "Dr Zweli Mkhize during an engagement with officials from Nelson Mandela Bay on 24 March. (Photo: Phando Jikelo / RSA Parliament)")
The committee’s pushback comes after Lobishe, on the sidelines of a council meeting on 31 March, said: “I view the process as unfair. Questions were posed, and there was no real opportunity for me to provide information. If you are conducting oversight, you must ask for written submissions. You cannot ask questions outside of what was prepared and expect immediate responses. It is unfair.”
She added that the municipality remained open to oversight, but only if conducted “in accordance with the rules of government” and without any sphere of government being “belittled”.
Mkhize said Lobishe’s stance was at odds with Parliament’s oversight mandate, noting that the committee had sent follow-up requests on “serious concerns” — most of which the municipality had failed to answer.
“The committee’s focus is on ensuring accountability and that governance improves in Nelson Mandela Bay. This work is critical as communities continue to bear the brunt of poor governance and weak financial accountability,” he said.
“Cooperative governance is not optional. We will not be deterred or allow any delays or continued non-cooperation to impede the committee’s oversight, and we will use all available parliamentary mechanisms to ensure accountability.” DM