Holomisa tirade sullies reputation

We hold no brief for Athol Trollip, or his party, the Democratic Alliance (DA) – but there can be no denying that the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality has plummeted since he was removed as mayor last year and replaced by Mongameli Bobani of the United Democratic Movement (UDM).

Bobani has been followed by allegations of incompetence and corruption, and service delivery has declined.

He was to have faced a no-confidence motion in the municipal chamber yesterday. That was called off by the speaker on the advice of the police, she said, because there was a threat of violence from his supporters and their allies. But that was not true, according to the cops.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of that particular Eastern Cape version of democracy, the really disturbing aspect of this whole mess is the way one of the more respected politicians in this country, UDM leader Bantu Holomisa, has behaved.

Apart from failing to call Bobani to order – despite the fact he was bringing both the UDM and the metro into disrepute with his behaviour – Holomisa weighed in on the no-confidence debate cancellation by crowing that it was “a blow to the DA’s Trollip, who still dreams of becoming a mayor again”.

Holomisa can only have done this for one of two reasons, because it is not in dispute that the coalition administration headed by Trollip was dramatically better than the present one. It is either a personal or political vendetta against Trollip and the DA; or he sides with the kingmaker party in the city, the Economic Freedom Fighters and its racist view of the world.

Either way, Holomisa looks like anything but the unbiased, open-minded, nation-building man who won many friends across the political spectrum.

And that is sad for democracy, because SA needs the sort of person he was back in national debates.