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Reject Bhanga addresses the media.
Lulama Zenzile, Gallo Images, Netwerk24
- The Eastern Cape DA Leader Nqaba Bhanga has rejected Cogta MEC Xolile Nqatha’s letter declaring his election null and void.
- Bhanga said that Nqatha can only annul his election through judicial review.
- Cogta in the Eastern Cape said it agreed with the letter sent to the council’s president, Bulelwa Mafaya.
The newly elected Eastern Cape DA leader and Nelson Mandela Bay mayor, Nqaba Bhanga, rejected MEC Xolile Nqatha’s Cooperative Government letter declaring Bhanga’s election as “illicit, illegal and void”.
Bhanga spoke during a news conference at the Port Elizabeth city hall on Monday, where he called the letter, addressed to council chairman Buyelwa Mafaya, as an overreach.
Bhanga was elected mayor of the NMB township on Friday night during a chaotic council meeting chaired by Marlon Daniels of the Patriotic Alliance, after Mafaya was forcibly removed from her chair by three men.
In the letter, dated December 8, Nqatha said that he received a report from the acting city manager about the council meeting.
According to the report, it clearly shows that the election of the acting president by the councilors to preside over the election of an executive mayor was made in contravention of [the] terms of section 36 (3) of [the] Local Government: Municipal Structure Law of 1998. Neither the interim municipal administrator nor a person designated by the MEC presided over the interim president’s election on December 4. The election of the acting president was therefore unlawful, illegal and void, “said Nqatha.
However, Bhanga believed that his choice could only be annulled by judicial review. Therefore, the MEC letter is, in essence, an attempt to sideline the election of the executive mayor in Nelson Mandela [Bay] Metro, without following due process. If the MEC wants to make a decision to annul the processes, unfortunately it does not have jurisdiction. “
“You are supposed to run to court and explain why you think the Nelson Mandela Bay council meeting was not properly convened,” Bhanga said.
Cogta Eastern Cape spokesperson Mamkeli Ngam said: “We are not going to respond to what Councilor Bhanga is saying to the media. We support the letter that the MEC sent to the chairman of the council and the MEC will do everything … to try to bring stability to that municipality. “
Ongama Mtimka, political analyst and lecturer in the department of political and conflict studies at Nelson Mandela University, said Nqatha’s letter was understandable given the circumstances of the meeting.
“The person who chaired the council meeting that elected Nqaba Bhanga as the executive mayor, had a default in the sense that there was neither the municipal administrator, nor the president nor a representative of the province (Cogta) to chair that meeting.
“But despite that, the MEC approach does not show a genuine commitment to finding a solution in Nelson Mandela Bay in a neutral way. The ANC, in general, seems to be committed to finding a solution here that favors them and, in fact, they are not showing any willingness to commit to ensuring that there is a political transition moving towards stability in Nelson Mandela Bay despite an outcome that may not be in their favor, “said Mtimka.