PE coalition hits a wobble

DA leader Mmusi Maimane and his United Democratic Movement counterpart, Bantu Holomisa, had to intervene to quell tension between Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Athol Trollip and his deputy, Mongameli Bobani, that threatened to collapse the coalition government in the metro.

The Sunday Times has learnt that Trollip and Bobani were last month summoned to a meeting in Cape Town where they were scolded by Maimane and Holomisa for publicly clashing over the appointment of top city officials.

The meeting was convened after Trollip wrote a letter to Maimane and Holomisa to express his frustrations with Bobani’s “personal reservations” about the appointment of two senior city officials, city manager Johann Mettler and acting executive director of corporate services Vuyo Zitumane.

Bobani claimed that Mettler’s appointment in December had been irregular as it was not validated by TUSSLE: Athol Trollip and Mongameli Bobani Eastern Cape co-operative governance MEC Fikile Xasa of the ANC. He also opposed the extension of Zitumane’s contract by two months.

The battles have been settled following the intervention by Maimane and Holomisa as well as the attainment of an independent legal opinion that said the municipality did not need the approval of the MEC before making the appointment.

Holomisa confirmed on Friday that the national leaders had intervened to “strengthen” the coalition government.

“We . . . resolved to write to Xasa and ask him what is his issue with the appointment of the city manager. This is an ANC mess we are trying to fix there. Xasa thought he was taking chances but the coalition is strong,” Holomisa said.

But Xasa’s spokesman, Mamnkeli Ngam, said: “Mr Holomisa is just playing politics.”

Trollip said the differences between him and Bobani had been settled and the appointments had been approved by the council.

“We had a full house council meeting and all the other parties voted for this item except for the ANC. With the city manager appointment, MEC Xasa seems to think that the composition of our panel was irregular.

“I wrote back to him to say we are not going to re-advertise the position. We effectively have a standoff between me and the MEC. I have also written to the premier about this,” Trollip said.

Maimane said the ANC “must just go on a course on local government”. THE DA in the Eastern Cape faces a bruising battle to find a replacement for provincial leader Athol Trollip.

Chairwoman Veliswa Mvenya will square off next month against the man regarded as Trollip’s choice, newcomer Nqaba Bhanga, who is part of the former leader’s Nelson Mandela Bay mayoral committee.

The contesting camps have been nicknamed the “A team” and the “V team” after the two leaders’ first names.

Two other leaders seeking election at the party congress in East London next month are close to Trollip. Former campaign manager Andrew Whitfield will run for the chairman’s job, and Bobby Stevenson, a longserving member of the provincial legislature, will seek the deputy leadership.

Other candidates in the Mvenya camp have not been announced.

Pre-congress manoeuvring reached its climax last month when Mvenya rejected Trollip’s offer of an uncontested election.

DA insiders, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trollip had proposed that if Whitfield ran unopposed Mvenya would be allowed to do the same.

He is said to have told Mvenya — JOHANNESBURG mayor Herman Mashaba is gunning for the City Power board, a few days after he fired his political head of environment and infrastructure services.

Mashaba told the Sunday Times he had sought legal advice how to deal with the board, chaired by Frank Chikane, after it refused to suspend City Power MD Sicelo Xulu for alleged corruption.

This week Mashaba removed mayoral committee member Anthony Still for refusing to suspend Xulu and launch a fresh investigation against the MD.

“No one is going to stop me from doing this investigation and doing it properly. By Monday, or Tuesday at the latest, I will be getting a legal opinion [about] how to deal with this board. I want to hold them accountable. My lawyers will tell me what options I’ve got to do this investigation and do it properly,” he said.

Mashaba said Xulu was implicated also an MPL — that this offered her the “opportunity of a lifetime”. When she rejected the offer, Trollip promised to “come hard” at Mvenya and her camp.

Trollip declined to comment, saying: “I never comment on internal party matters.”

MPL Kobus Botha, Mvenya’s campaign manager, said the two leaders had become incompatible and conciliation attempts by national leaders in alleged corruption involving the city’s R1-billion smart electricity meter tender.

Xulu has already been cleared of wrongdoing, but Mashaba told the Sunday Times on Friday that fresh had failed. He said it was clear that Mvenya’s 17-year track record outweighed Bhanga’s.

“Nqaba Bhanga is cleverly being used as a disguise to distract and influence delegates in an attempt to hold on to party position power by various people around Athol Trollip,” said Botha.

Bhanga confirmed the discussion between Trollip and Mvenya, saying he had been holding meetings with his rival since last year “to engage her on the future of the party”.

He said he had approached Mvenya to try to unite the leadership and form the best team to prepare for the 2019 elections, at which the DA hopes to win the province from the ANC.

“When she refused to co-operate and work with everybody else, when she refused to have a dialogue for us to find a way . . . of building a party, then I further said that I think the people of the Eastern Cape deserve better,” he said.

Mvenya said she rejected Trollip’s offer because she did not want to kill democracy in the DA.

“Negotiations would mean there is no point for us to go to congress,” she said. She did not agree with individuals meeting behind the scenes to divide up leadership positions — “I wouldn’t like the DA to take that direction.” information received two weeks ago had implicated him.

Mashaba said the new information confirmed that there had been something “wrong” with the tender, which had been awarded to Edison Power. The company is owned by Vivian Reddy, a friend of President Jacob Zuma.

The information allegedly implicating Xulu was presented at a meeting attended by Mashaba, Still and teams from auditors EY and SizweNtsalubaGobodo, said Mashaba.

The presentation was made by the city’s head of forensic investigations unit, Shadrack Sibiya.

That meeting was followed up by one with Chikane, among others.

Chikane told the media on Thursday that the board was satisfied with the outcome of previous investigations exonerating Xulu. He declined to comment for this article.

City Power spokesman Hloni Motloung said Xulu would not comment until the investigation was concluded.