How will DA navigate path?

THERE were two moments of interest in the Nelson Mandela Bay council chamber last Thursday. Both were significant, perhaps because they epitomise the reasons behind the political fracas that has unfolded in this metro over the past year.

The first was minutes before Mongameli Bobani was voted out of the deputy mayor position.

Believing that the motion would fail, Bobani got up from his chair, leaned over and put his arm around arch-rival mayor Athol Trollip, then whispered before triumphantly shuffling to the door with the opposition.

The story goes, at least from Trollip, that Bobani whispered these five little words: “I beat you. F*** you.” Bobani’s version is different. He says he only told Trollip: “Be a gentleman and tell your people not to mess around.”

Regardless of the words said, here’s the point.

In that moment, Bobani believed he had slain the dragon.

He believed that at least in that chamber he was more powerful than the mayor, that he was indispensable and Trollip was finally about to see it. He was mistaken. Of course, depending on where you stand on the issue, there is ongoing discourse about whether the procedure followed to vote Bobani out stands up to legal scrutiny.

As I write this I believe the UDM is preparing to file its court papers challenging Thursday’s voting procedure.

For now it seems that Bobani’s behaviour in that moment signified what his fight against Trollip is ultimately about – the pursuit and validation of his power.

Indeed you may argue that such is the nature of politics.

The problem, however, is when such power is pursued at all cost, potentially to the detriment of governance, the erosion of public confidence and in compromise of the rule of law.

The suggestion from Trollip is that corruption and maladministration were at the heart of Bobani’s behaviour in the last eight months.

To back his theory Trollip points to a report compiled by auditing firm PwC.

The report, currently in its draft form, is said to list a number of allegations of corruption in the public health department led by Bobani for the better part of the past year.

But Bobani maintains that his hands are clean. Here’s the challenge. Based on what is in the public domain so far, there indeed seems to be evidence of maladministration and corruption in that department.

However, apart from the word of some officials, there is yet to be concrete evidence presented, publicly at least, directly linking Bobani to impropriety.

This is precisely why the report must be finalised as speedily as possible and presented to council to decide how to proceed to deal with its contents and those it implicates. The second moment of interest happened earlier in the meeting.

An item was presented wherein the municipality was requesting council to approve a decision to resurface roads to be used for the Ironman World Championships which the metro is to host next year. No doubt it is a spectacular event. It is in line with efforts to promote the metro as a sporting tourism destination of choice.

To host it, the metro must resurface some 40km of road to be used by athletes.

The estimated bill is around R200million.

But for now, the metro wants R13-million to resurface a portion of the road.

The R13-million has to be sourced from funds budgeted for fixing roads in other wards.

To justify its request, the coalition government says there are economic spin-offs to be had and none of us can afford to lose this event.

Not convinced, the opposition asked which wards were expected to sacrifice a share of their budget to throw into the kitty to resurface Ironman roads. The metro is yet to answer this. In case you’re unsure, indeed there is a subliminal yet powerful narrative to that question.

It is that, in his arrogance, Trollip expects council to simply without question rubber-stamp a decision to (potentially) take money meant to fix potholes in roads in Motherwell to spruce up those in Summerstrand.

As far as the opposition is concerned, this lands credence to its belief that the coalition government is an elitist club serving the interest of the affluent at the expense of the poor.

This narrative – real or perceived – goes to the very heart of the political dynamics in our council.

It is the reason why the Ironman motion, and others, could not pass.

Regardless of what Trollip and his team think of this portrayal, it will continue to trip them up if they fail, like on Thursday, to politically navigate it.

As things stand, the numbers in council present a 60-60 split between the coalition partners (excluding the UDM) and the opposition.

To hold council meetings and to pass its motions, the coalition needs at least one more vote from the opposing camp. So what now? Like it or not, the DA has some serious lobbying to do. Its pickings are slim.

At this rate, the UDM is unlikely to cave. For obvious reasons the ANC is a no-go.

EFF leader Julius Malema believes Trollip is equally responsible for the mess in Mandela Bay and with him at the helm, the DA can forget about the EFF’s vote.

This leaves two parties – the AIC and the United Front.

At a national level the AIC has a complex (and at times mutually beneficial relationship) with the ANC which could be compromised should it decide to support the Bay coalition.

The last option is the United Front. Its differences with the DA are substantially ideological in nature.

But unlike the rest, it may not be as complicated by other external dynamics.

The question then is: with enough leverage, can the DA potentially crack the ally it so desperately needs in the United Front?