Northern areas says ‘no’ to Danny Jordaan for Bay mayor
APPOINTING soccer boss Danny Jordaan as the ANC’s Nelson Mandela Bay’s mayor would be a blunder, according to some ANC activists in Port Elizabeth’s northern areas.
Jordaan is lauded by some as one of the giants to have emerged from the northern areas and he continues to fly the Nelson Mandela Bay flag high.
This is why his name is being bandied about in ANC circles, along with former deputy mayor Bicks Ndoni and businessman Mandla Madwara, to possibly succeed mayor Ben Fihla next week.
Commentators believe he could bag the ANC the substantial coloured vote it lost in the 2011 municipal elections. However, some ANC members who live in the northern areas disagree.
“Danny is a fantastic guy,” one prominent northern areas leader said.
“Put him in a boardroom full of intellectuals and he will thrive, but he has lost touch with people on the ground.” Only one of the people who spoke out was willing to be named as the process of replacing Fihla is ultimately in the hands of President Jacob Zuma.
No one wanted to be seen as publicly rejecting or endorsing anyone specific.
“We all stay in PE and, let’s be honest, we need someone who is here, not flying around to Johannesburg and the world,” a community leader, who grew up in Arcadia, said.
“I have no problem with Danny as a person, but he was never in council.
“When you’re here in council, you deal with the lowest of the low on the ground.
“If we’re being honest, this job is not for Danny. He can speak to intellectuals and academics, but when
people are protesting, do you really think he will go and talk to the people?
“At some point, we must look beyond colour because we’re so integrated now. There aren’t just coloured people living in the northern areas anymore.
“If they base this mayoral thing on colour then we’ll miss it completely.
“We need someone who can understand the politics of the city, the social environment and can deal with the people on the ground. If I were Danny, I would not accept such a request.”
Jordaan, whose family home is in Bethelsdorp, rose quickly from being a teacher to being an ANC MP, chief executive and then president of the SA Football Association.
Another ANC activist and branch member said it would be foolish of the ANC to ap- point a coloured mayor when demographics showed 70% of its voters were black.
“Inherently, people are racists to a certain degree and the majority of people within the ANC would identify with people like themselves. People would vote for Mandla Madwara. But on the other hand, Danny has done a lot for the northern areas.
“With the World Cup, the Gelvandale Stadium was built, there were soccer coaching clinics and the soccer clubs benefited in the northern areas.”
A northern areas business owner and ANC member said: “I would love it if he was elected because he’s one of us, but I don’t think he’s in touch with the people here in the community. Danny has done nothing for us.
“He doesn’t even drive around in the northern areas anymore. He sits at his house in Summerstrand. Yes, the metro needs a good administrator, but I don’t think he’s the right guy right now because of the political environment here. At the end of the day, the [regional task team] can recommend whoever they want, but the president will make up his mind about who he thinks is best.”
Another ANC member and activist, Cedric Human, felt that either Jordaan or Madwara would be able to take the metro forward.
“Danny is assertive in his decisions and knows the needs of the people. He’s well entrenched with the politics of the metro.
“His home is still in Bethelsdorp even though his parents are no longer with us.
“I don’t think it’s fair to say he’s moved away from us. We don’t expect a man of his stature in the northern areas every day.”
Zuma and the rest of the ANC’s top six will be back in the Bay on Monday, and speculation is rife that the metro is likely to get new political and administrative leadership.