By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has given the National Alliance 35 days to fill two seats, including that of Gary van Niekerk, the executive mayor, after they were declared vacant by the Nelson Mandela Bay city manager Dr Noxolo Nqwazi.
On Monday, Nqwazi declared vacant the seats of Van Niekerk and his mayoral committee member for Safety and Security, John Mitchell, citing correspondence from their party, the National Alliance.
In a letter written to the IEC this week, Nqwazi informed the commission of the two proportional representation (PR) seat vacancies in the council.
The PR seats were occupied by van Niekerk and his fellow National Alliance (NA) councillor, Mitchell.
Van Niekerk and Mitchell’s NA memberships were terminated for bringing the party into disrepute after they were hauled before the party’s disciplinary hearing last week.
The two councillors had unsuccessfully approached the courts to interdict their hearing, which eventually found them guilty of contravening the NA’s Constitution for their conduct.
Van Niekerk, has argued he remains a member of his party.
“I’m still the president of the National Alliance and I’m still very much the executive mayor of the Nelson Mandela Municipality.”
He has since gone to court again, this time to interdict the IEC from officially declaring the two positions vacant.
This is the third time Nqwazi has declared the seats of the National Alliance members vacant. She did this previously when they opposed her appointment as city manager. She was acting city manager at the time.
Sanda Nodada from the IEC said the commission had received a letter declaring the two vacancies. There was a window of 35 days for these to be filled.
Van Niekerk is currently the mayor in a coalition where the ANC holds the majority vote and which is supported by the EFF. Keeping Nqwazi on as city manager has been a point of contention within the coalition government.
Ngwazi is on trial in the Gqeberha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on charges of fraud, money laundering, corruption, and contravening the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA).
She was arrested by the Hawks last October for her alleged role in the unlawful signing off on a R24 million tender.
Earlier this year, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana withheld from the metro almost R800-million in grants and agreed to release the money only on condition that action be taken against Nqwazi, among other conditions.
Van Niekerk’s chief of staff, Vasu Padayachy, said Nqwazi’s actions were illegal and predetermined and were carried out to stop Van Niekerk from performing his “statutory duty” to investigate and report to the council on whether she should face a disciplinary committee.
“We have brought a high court application to interdict the city manager and also to challenge the legality of the declaration. The matter will probably be set down for next week on a semi-urgent basis,” he said.
After the November 2021 local government elections, the political instability in the metro worsened as the outcome meant that only a coalition government could run the metro.
There are 12 parties with seats in the current council. The ANC and the DA received roughly the same number of votes in the elections and both hold 48 seats. The EFF holds eight seats. The National Alliance holds three seats, two of which Nqwazi has declared vacant. The rest of the parties hold one or two seats each.
The metro is in its third coalition government since the 2021 elections. Van Niekerk was the speaker in two and is now the mayor.