Motion against mayor postponed once again

No-confidence notice filed in January by Troon set to be debated on April 29

A motion of no confidence in Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Gary van Niekerk was postponed again during a council meeting yesterday.

It was one of several motions postponed by speaker Eugene Johnson, with a council meeting scheduled for April 29.

The notice was filed in January by GOOD councillor Lawrence Troon, who lambasted Van Niekerk about service delivery issues experienced under his leadership.

Speaking afterwards, Troon said the fact the motion had been postponed again spoke volumes about the ANC being indecisive about Van Niekerk’s future.

“It just means this carries on yet again,” he said.

“That they are not killing the motion while they have the numbers tells you something is going on.

“It’s being kept alive by them.”

He said he was glad the ANC would go into the provincial and national elections in a coalition with Van Niekerk as mayor.

“It shows they are prepared to go with a [alleged] corrupt person as a mayor.

“And whenever they tell people they are dealing with corruption, they must just look at Nelson Mandela Bay.

“It is only fools who will vote for the ANC.”

ANC councillor and chief whip Wandisile Jikeka said they would not be dictated to by Troon.

“We won’t be told by Troon when to remove a mayor and how to run the government.

“We are part of a coalition and it will be a discussion of the coalition.

“All motions were treated the same and his will come back to council and we will vote it down,” he said.

When asked about Troon’s remarks, Van Niekerk said: “Since when does anyone care anymore what Troon says?”

Van Niekerk came under fire last year when it came to light that he had enlisted the services of Boqwana Burns Incorporated to conduct various legal tasks for the city in June 2022, when his positions at the time as councillor and speaker were in the balance.

This cost the municipality more than R500,000 in legal fees.

In the notice, Troon said Van Niekerk had presided over a period marked by incompetence.

“The state of the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality is now in disarray, with service delivery plummeting to unacceptable levels,” he wrote.

“The metro is in tatters, and the community is enduring the consequences of a leadership vacuum that has left the affairs of the municipality in a state of chaos.”

The motion against the mayor has dragged on since January.

In February, Johnson abruptly ended council when the motion was being debated.

This was after EFF councillor Khanya Ngqisha and Troon exchanged heated words in front of the microphone and nearly came to blows.

The mayor had survived a no-confidence motion against him in August which was filed by former DOP councillor Tukela Zumani.

‘We won’t be told by Troon when to remove a mayor and how to run the government. We are part of a coalition and it will be a discussion of the coalition’