Jordaan new PE mayor
THE ANC has appointed SA Football Association president Danny Jordaan as mayor of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro in an effort to revive its fortunes in the region and to retain control of the metro in next year’s local government elections.
“He will be heading the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro and his appointment will be confirmed as soon as the council meets,” ANC spokesperson Keith Khoza said yesterday
“We are seeking to address the challenges facing the metro and to ensure that we are an effective local government.”
Khoza confirmed that the job had proven too much for 83-year-old former MP Benson Fihla, who was appointed mayor in 2013.
“The current mayor is an old man and to run a metro as big as that you need somebody younger and more energetic. It is not fair to place that strain on Oom Ben.”
Jordaan will face a strong challenge in the local government poll from DA Eastern Cape leader Athol Trollip.
In the 2014 national elections, the ANC received 48.8 percent of the votes and the DA 40.8 percent.
In the last local elections in 2011, the ANC’s vote share dropped from 66.5 to 51.9 percent. Port Elizabeth-born Jordaan’s last high-profile outing as a politician was as an MP from 1994 to 1997, leaving to become Safa’s chief executive and twice leading South
He also has an appeal in a wide cross-section of the population
Africa’s bid to host the World Cup, succeeding the second time.
Political analyst Somadoda Fikeni said Jordaan’s appointment as mayor was an indication the ANC was concerned at the prospect of losing one of its big metros.
Jordaan’s appointment makes him the municipality’s fourth mayor in six years.
In 2009, Nondumiso Maphazi was fired as mayor and replaced by Zanoxolo Wayile, who in turn was fired in 2013 and replaced by Fihla.
Fikeni said: “The metro has reached a critical stage of factionalism and poor performance over a long period. So, the ANC is gravely concerned about the metro and the war talk from the opposition (DA) that it’s going to take over.”
He also noted that the ANC had seen its support curtailed in the municipality in the recent elections. “They have a reason to worry because in the last election the ANC didn’t do that well. In fact, it lost a lot of ground in the Gauteng metros and also could not reach the 50 percent mark in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro.”
He said the ANC faced a threat from metalworkers union Numsa and, to some extent, Cope in addition to the DA. “Many things have since happened, from the ANC being fragmented leading up to Polokwane.
“Therefore, Cope could find its base there, which is also a base for Numsa, which is drifting away in another direction from the ANC.”
Fikeni said Jordaan’s appointment as the mayor could swing things in the ANC’s favour.
“I do think that he is an internationally and nationally recognised person, and a consummate administrator and organiser who brings that wealth of experience. But most importantly, he also has an appeal in a wide cross-section of the population, the business sector as well as the minorities, which is an area where the ANC was struggling and in fact losing ground,” he said.