Nombiba’s last day to hand himself in
Nelson Mandela Bay ANC councillor Bongo Nombiba has until today to hand himself over to authorities after his petition to appeal against his conviction and jail sentence was dismissed by the Eastern Cape High Court in Makhanda (Grahamstown).
The decision was taken on August 2 by Judge Dayalin Chetty and acting Judge Johann Huisamen.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Tshepo Ndwalaza confirmed that Nombiba would have to hand himself over within seven working days of the decision, to start serving the rest of his sentence. In April, Nombiba was convicted and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for fraud and money-laundering.
In July, he was released on bail pending a decision on his petition to appeal.
Ndwalaza said: “The advocate who dealt with this matter informed me that he heard about the dismissal of Nombiba’s appeal this morning [Monday] and [though] he has not received any official documents confirming that to him personally, he knows Mr Nombiba will have to hand himself [over] to authorities.”
Ndwalaza said it was up to Nombiba and his legal team to take up the matter with the Supreme Court of Appeal if he wanted to appeal against the Makhanda court decision.
On Monday, Nombiba said he was not aware of the decision. The Herald has, however, seen the court document.
“There’s no such thing. If it was true, I would have been arrested by now,” he said.
Asked when he had last spoken to his lawyer, Nombiba declined to comment.
Bay city manager Johann Mettler said he had not declared a vacancy in council, and Nombiba still had a month to appeal against the high court outcome.
“The constitution says until that time has lapsed, councillor Nombiba must still be regarded as a councillor.”
Mettler said he had received the decision on the petition on Monday morning and was trying to ascertain if Nombiba had handed himself over to Correctional Services.
DA provincial spokesperson Mlindi Nhanha urged the authorities to act and arrest Nombiba as soon as possible.
“The court’s decision yet again confirms that the ANC cannot be trusted with the people’s money and that criminality exists within the ANC caucus,” Nhanha said.
“The ANC is incapable of governing the city and South Africa.”
The dismissal of Nombiba’s appeal puts plans by the opposition to boot out the DA-led coalition and install a new government in jeopardy.
Should he not be at Thursday’s council meeting, when the motion is debated, it would leave the opposition with one seat fewer but it would still hold a slim majority.
The opposition ANC, EFF, UDM, United Front, AIC and PA have a combined 61 seats out of 120.
The DA and its coalition partners ACDP and COPE have the other 59 seats.
A council meeting would not be able to sit if members of the coalition walk out or do not attend.
Meanwhile, council speaker Jonathan Lawack denied the opposition’s second request for a special meeting which it wanted held on Wednesday.
Its previous request, for a special council meeting on Friday, was also turned down as it was in breach of applicable time periods in terms of the council’s Rules of Order.
The opposition wants Bay mayor Athol Trollip removed, Lawack ousted as speaker and chief whip in council Werner Senekal removed.
It also wants the council to rescind the decision to dissolve the position of deputy mayor.
In its motion for the noconfidence vote against Trollip, published in the council agenda for Thursday’s scheduled meeting, EFF councillor Zilindile Vena wrote that the opposition parties want him gone because they believe he has blatantly disregarded and failed to prioritise the poor.