May 18 D-Day for Bay bosses – Kodwa
FASTEN your seatbelts. There are major changes coming to Nelson Mandela Bay on May 18.
This was the warning from ANC national spokeman Zizi Kodwa, as speculation mounts that the metro is likely to get a new political and administrative leadership later this month.
Meanwhile, the list of candidates to replace mayor Ben Fihla is growing – with SA Football Association president Danny Jordaan’s name being the latest to do the rounds within ANC circles.
This comes as members debate whether he, former deputy mayor Bicks Ndoni or businessman Mandla Madwara would be the right person for the job.
It is believed that President Jacob Zuma has yet to decide who will lead the municipality going into next year’s local government elections.
Kodwa would not confirm yesterday whether or not anyone had been officially approached to take over from Fihla.
“We have not yet taken any view on changing the administration or political leadership,” he said.
“We are engaging the technical report [on the state of the municipality] and believe the report gives the ANC sufficient basis to take a decision.”
The report, presented by Cooperative Governance Minister Pravin Gordhan to Zuma on Monday, is said to detail allegations of corruption and manipulation of processes in different departments, including human settlements.
“Based on that report, we are clear what the problems are and we are dealing with the problems,” Kodwa said.
Asked if the ANC believed the problem was indeed the political and administrative leadership, Kodwa said: “Come May 18, both the political and administration leadership must fasten their seatbelts.”
Zuma and the leadership are expected back in the Bay on May 18.
The visit will follow a national executive committee meeting, where the state of the Bay is expected to be among priority issues discussed.
Kodwa said through recent engagements within the Bay they understood that people had lost confidence in the municipality. “We dare not disappoint our people,” he said. “The ANC needs to bring back public confidence in the municipality.
“We disbanded our own structure [the regional executive committee] because we believed that it no longer carried the hopes and aspirations of our people.
“The question now is: does the municipality carry the hopes and aspirations of our people?”
Kodwa said the NEC would also dis- cuss what kind of intervention was needed in the administration, especially the human settlements department, highlighted in the technical report.
Asked if that meant the national government would take over the running of the municipality’s human settlements department, Kodwa said: “I cannot speak for the government.
“But what we know is there was an appeal by the provincial government for intervention in the department from [the] national [department]. “That department is run like its own municipality,” he said. “It has its own rules outside those of the municipality.
“There is corruption identified. That is what needs to be dealt with.
“The minister [of Human Settlements, Lindiwe Sisulu] recently announced a R4.6-billion injection into human settlements in Nelson Mandela Bay.
“That money cannot be pumped into a unit that is not in order,” Kodwa said.