New mayor may not be sufficient

IN two weeks’ time Nelson Mandela Bay will in all likelihood have a new executive mayor.

This would be the fourth incumbent this city has had in six years.

ANC insiders say this time the ANC is eyeing businessman Mandla Madwara to lead the municipality for what is possibly the ruling party’s last stretch on the seat of power ahead of the local government elections next year.

A former city councillor, a skilled negotiator and capable leader who understands the magnitude of the crisis in the Bay, we believe Madwara is equal to the task.

However, this is no ordinary municipality.

The political climate in the ANC is deeply troubling.

The administration is, at best, dysfunctional.

To properly lead this municipality effectively means to dismantle a powerful network of individuals who have made it their mission to loot the city’s coffers in every way imaginable.

This group of people has thus far been responsible for driving out excellent administrators such as Lindiwe Msengana-Ndlela as well as politicians who dared to speak up against the rot.

Unfortunately for the ANC and even more so for the citizens of this city, it has taken President Jacob Zuma and his team a long time to understand the depth and complexity of this problem.

But now it seems that they finally do.

And with only a year to go before elections, it seems the ANC national leadership now understands it has no choice but to clean up this mess, if it is to stand any chance of holding on to power.

The reality, however, is that replacing one mayor with another is simply not going to cut it.

It did not work with former mayors Nondumiso Maphazi and Zanoxolo Wayile.

Unless there is more decisive and consistent intervention to clean up the mess in the different departments, it will certainly not work with Madwara or whoever else the ANC chooses to eventually replace Fihla.