DA takes Holomisa to task

THE DA’s James Selfe has lashed out at UDM leader Bantu Holomisa, saying he should not prioritise his comrade over Nelson Mandela Bay’s citizens.

The DA said it had voted to remove UDM councillor Mongameli Bobani as deputy mayor during a council meeting at Port Elizabeth on Thursday.

But the ANC insisted Bobani was still the rightful deputy mayor. In a letter this week, Holomisa wrote that if Bobani was not reinstated on Monday, “the UDM will pull out” of the DA-led coalition governing the Eastern Cape’s largest metro. A no-confidence motion against Bobani had been tabled by Patriotic Alliance (PA) councillor Marlon Daniels.

“We wonder at this PA/DA ‘side-marriage’, which seems to be outside the co-governance agreement? How is this relationship managed? Is the PA being swallowed by the DA? How can councillor Daniels, who is not a coalition partner, be aware or have information about the allegations that councillor Bobani is destabilising the coalition,” said Holomisa.

But the metro’s executive mayor Athol Trollip has said he wrote to the coalition partners recently, notifying them that the PA had joined the co-governance agreement.

Bobani was accused of voting with the ANC in the council on many occasions.

Bobani said: “I am still deputy executive mayor and I will remain deputy executive mayor. That was a kangaroo council meeting because there was no quorum.”