Nelson Mandela Bay to elect new mayor in 7 days

This after the Port Elizabeth High Court rubberstamped an out-of-court settlement between the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the provincial Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta).

The DA’s Nqaba Bhanga still has the mayoral chain until council convenes for a re-election next week.  

The party’s provincial chairperson Andrew Whitfield confirmed the court’s decision on Tuesday.

“The DA has now settled with the MEC to ensure that the election of Nqaba Bhanga in December is not overturned by the court but that we are prepared to go to a new council meeting to re-elect Nqaba as the mayor, to ensure that the election process is beyond reproach and that we remove any uncertainty or any issues of illegibility that is hanging over the council’s head right now,” says Whitfield.

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Bhanga was elected as mayor in a controversial council meeting in early December, which was marred by chaos and drama.

Three men barged into the council chambers and forcefully removed speaker Buyelwa Mafaya.

Whitfield believes the party still has the upper hand.

“The DA still believes that our case is strong or was strong but in the interest of the resident of Nelson Mandela Bay, what’s very important is that the MEC and the DA don’t go back and forth for months or potentially years to come in costly and lengthy mitigation that may incur extreme costs of the rate payers and taxpayers of the Eastern cape,” he adds.  

The DA says it will keep Bhanga as its mayoral candidate when council votes again.

“We are confident that the council will elect Nqaba as the mayor again in 7 days’ time again.

Listen to Whitfield below: