-
Nelson Mandela Bay Babalwa Lobishe
Several minority opposition parties in Nelson Mandela Bay are expected to table a motion of no confidence in Executive Mayor Babalwa Lobishe on Tuesday.
The parties, including the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), Freedom Front Plus (FF+) and GOOD, have cited ongoing service delivery failures such as power outages, water disruptions and concerns over the leasing of a R25 million municipal transformer to Coega Steels.
The council meeting takes place as large parts of the metro have been without electricity for several days due to collapsed pylons along the Arlington line.
The metro is currently governed by an African National Congress-led coalition, which holds 48 out of 120 seats.
The motion will require support from parties such as the Democratic Alliance (DA), Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and smaller parties to succeed.
ACDP representative Lance Grootboom says the state of the city has deteriorated under the mayor’s leadership.
“Under Babalwa, our executive mayor, the city has gone down; it is at a place where it’s not supposed to be. There are distress in our service delivery, there is distress in our finances, there is distress in everything. The ward that we are currently in, which is wards 1, 2, and 3, is affected by pylons that have collapsed, under her watch, knowingly that there are problems with our pylons in the Arlington region, so service delivery has gone down,” said Grootboom.
“There is nothing happening in this city and that is one of the key reasons why we brought our motion,” he added.
