Bobani must be reined in, – UDM MP

Kwankwa describes him as destructive, arrogant

DEPUTY mayor Mongameli Bobani is arrogant and destructive, a heady combination which has not only dented the image of the UDM, but also portrays him as an individual who is above the party. This is according to UDM deputy president and MP Nqabayomzi Kwankwa, who believes Nelson Mandela Bay’s second in command should be reined in by the party.

Some within the party have even proposed that Bobani’s behaviour be dealt with by the UDM’s national office-bearers, Kwankwa said yesterday.

This comes as leaders of the DA and UDM battle to resolve the rifts between Bobani and mayor Athol Trollip, which have been dragging on for months and threaten to tear apart the coalition formed in the Bay after the August elections.

While the impasse, as well as the allegations levelled against each other by both Bobani and Trollip, are being probed by the leaders, Kwankwa believes that Bobani’s behaviour should be dealt with separately by the party.

He cited last week’s mayoral committee meeting, which Bobani is said to have disrupted, as an example of behaviour that had to be nipped in the bud.

Kwankwa also bemoaned the fact that Bobani continuously disregarded instructions not to speak to the media on problems within the coalition.

He said Bobani’s behaviour brings the UDM into disrepute. Bobani declined to comment yesterday. Kwankwa said: “The bottom line is, from where I’m sitting – and I made this point clear in the party – the behavioural tendencies of Mr Bobani are not assisting us in trying to find a lasting solution to some of the problems that exist in the Nelson Mandela Metro.

“We cannot, for instance, be pontificating about the importance of treating parliament, which I often refer to as the people’s boardroom, with respect but allow our own to treat the boardroom of the people of the Nelson Mandela metro with some level of contempt and disdain because he doesn’t agree with a coalition partner. “We cannot allow that. “Yes there are problems and the parties are trying to find solutions to those problems, but we ourselves must be able to rein in our own councillor when he is making mistakes in so far as displaying a firm level of arrogance which is unacceptable, and displaying a certain level of destructive behaviour which we can’t accept.”

Kwankwa said the problems between Bobani and the coalition partners had been discussed at a provincial council meeting in Mthatha on Saturday and would be on the agenda for discussion today at a meeting of the daily management committee.

Kwankwa said Bobani had to explain his behaviour to the UDM’s secretary-general, Bongani Msomi, and that response would be processed by the daily management committee today.

“At a meeting with the opposition party leaders, I made a proposal that each political party deal with the behaviour of its own members internally so that we don’t make it the problem of our coalition partners to deal with issues of discipline that the parties should be dealing with themselves,” he said.

“We need to arrive at a solution to arrest this problem before it gets worse.”