The DA-led coalition has seized power at the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro following a successful motion of no-confidence against ANC mayor Eugene Johnson, her deputy Buyelwa Mafaya and the chief whip Wandile Jikeka during a council meeting that stretched into the early hours of Thursday morning.
The trio had held its positions for 10 months since the local government elections in November 2021, after the ANC formed a coalition government with Northern Alliance, Defenders of the People, AIC, UDM, GOOD Party, PAC and Abantu Integrity Movement.
The DA, which has about 48 seats in council, seized the opportunity to put together a coalition government after the ANC fell out with its partners, but remained in power with the backing of EFF, which has about eight seats and Patriotic Alliance which has two seats.
The composition of seats for the parties that abandoned the ANC for the DA is Northern Alliance with three seats, Defenders of the People with two seats, PAC, UDM, AIC, Abantu Integrity Movement and GOOD Party, which all have one seat.
The coalition is also made up of the Freedom Front Plus and the ACDP, which formed part of the ANC-led coalition and each has two seats.
The DA’s Retief Odendaal was elected as the new Nelson Mandela Bay mayor after beating the ANC’s Jikeka with a single vote. Odendaal received 60 votes and Jikeka got 59.
It is not clear who among the DA allies voted for Jikeka, because when their tally is combined, it stood at 62, but there was an absent DA councillor, Tshepo Ndwalaza, who initially attended the council meeting virtually due to ill-health.
It was Ndwalaza’s health matter that degenerated the meeting into chaos after allegations were made that there was a DA councillor who was caught voting for him in absentia.
A scuffle broke out as a group of councillors confiscated the ballot box and destroyed the ballot papers. They argued that they were preventing voter fraud.
A lengthy argument ensued with the ANC and EFF councillors demanding that two DA councillors, Ndwalaza and Margaret de Andrade, who had joined the meeting virtually, should be brought to the venue, but only De Andrade showed up.
The ANC and EFF tried again to stop the proceedings and demanded that Ndwalaza be brought to the venue, but council speaker, Gary van Niekerk, ruled that Ndwalaza would be considered absent and ordered for re-casting of votes for the mayoral candidates.
After the election of Odendaal, there were motions to remove Mafaya and Jikeka as the deputy mayor and speaker, respectively. Both motions were successful.
A veteran Nelson Mandela Bay politician and businessman Mkhuseli Jack emerged as the deputy mayor. He was elected uncontested. Freedom Front Plus councillor Bill Harington was also the only nominee for the chief whip vacancy, and was also elected uncontested.
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