Will he or won’t he be the Bay’s next mayor? Only Zuma knows
OUTGOING NELSON Mandela Bay Chamber of Business president and businessman Mandla Madwara is seriously considering the ANC regional task team’s offer to take over from mayor Ben Fihla.
But Madwara will only know whether he or other contenders will assume the mayoral position on Monday, when President Jacob Zuma will lead the party’s national executive back to the Bay, where he is expected to announce a mayoral leadership shake-up.
Madwara confirmed on Thursday that he had been approached by members of the ruling party’s regional task team (RTT) to ask if he would consider the mayoral position, as the ANC hopes to restore public confidence ahead of an unpredictable local government election next year.
Madwara is an ANC member of Ward 2, which includes Summerstrand.
The Weekend Post’s sister paper, The Herald, reported earlier this month that Madwara had been approached by the ANC to possibly take over from current mayor, octoge- narian Benson Fihla. Other names said to be in the hat are former deputy mayor Bicks Ndoni and Safa boss Danny Jordaan.
The final decision on who gets the mayor’s job rests with President Jacob Zuma.
Madwara informed the NMB Business Chamber at its AGM on Wednesday night that he had been approached by the ANC to consider the position.
“I am seriously considering accepting the offer. Let us assume it happens on Monday, then I will have to resign from the chamber as there would be a conflict of interest,” he said. “If I do take it, I could say it would be a sacrifice because I would have to let go of some of my business interests.”
Madwara has business interests in the Ironman Challenge and manufacturing industry.
Madwara’s three-year tenure as chamber president ended on Wednesday, but he will stay on until his successor is elected next month. As a former president of the chamber, Madwara will still play a role on the chamber board, if he does not get appointed to the mayor’s post.
Madwara and chief executive Kevin Hustler have championed some crucial projects for the metro, such as calling for the completion of the Nooitgedacht low-level-scheme and the urgent upgrading of the Addo Road. The pair have even had meetings with Zuma in the hope they would convince the country’s president to get government to pump the millions needed into the projects.
Madwara is well aware that to turn the city around would be a mammoth task.
“Whoever gets the nod as mayor will have to work closely with stakeholders like businesses, civic organisations and communities. This is a big responsibility that will need a strong team. I pity the guy who will be named as the mayor because, as you are aware, the challenges are huge. But no- body has a magic wand, so whoever is chosen will need all the assistance they [can get] from national government.”
ANC national spokesman Zizi Kodwa said the party’s national executive committee would meet this weekend where a report by Co-operative Governance Minister Pravin Gordhan would be discussed.
The report is said to uncover alleged corruption and mismanagement in the municipality, especially in the Department of Human Settlements.
“We will take some of the recommendations in that report because the issue is, how do we strengthen administration and speed up service delivery in that municipality?” he said.
Asked if they would be announcing Fihla’s replacement, Kodwa said: “We have seen names of people in the media but those names have nothing to do with us. We are coming back to see how we can strengthen the leadership administratively and politically”.
ANC regional task team convener Charles Nqakula said they were organising a meeting at the Nangoza Jebe Hall in New Brighton for Monday where ANC bigwigs would interact with party members.