By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The National Alliance (NA) president Gary van Niekerk has been reinstated as Nelson Mandela Bay’s municipality deputy mayor in the Eastern Cape.
Van Niekerk was suspended last December after he was charged with two counts related to cybercrime and for contravening the Municipal Finance Management Act.
The council voted in favour of rescinding a December 12 decision to suspend him.
The decision was made after mayor Babalwa Lobishe tabled a report at a council meeting on Thursday that recommended the suspension be lifted.
Speaker, Eugene Johnson, said 63 councillors voted in favour of Van Niekerk’s reinstatement, while 51 councillors voted against the motion.
She said five councillors abstained.
Van Niekerk was summoned to appear before the City’s Specialised Commercial Crimes Court following a Hawks investigation that led to his arrest.
According to the charge sheet, the former mayor had incurred a legal bill of more than R570,000 when he challenged his expulsion from the former Northern Alliance (NA) in 2022.
At a previous court appearance, the defence indicated that they wanted to make certain representations to the national director of public prosecutions.
Van Niekerk will be back in court again on Monday for a pre-trial conference.
Eastern Cape co-operative governance MEC Zolile Williams had called for Van Niekerk to be reinstated, calling the December 12 decision illegal.
According to the Municipal Systems Act, only an MEC can suspend a councillor.
Since the ANC lost its majority in the 2016 local government elections, Nelson Mandela Bay has been plagued by political infighting among parties.
Tensions deepened after the 2021 municipal elections, as neither the ANC nor the DA won enough seats for outright control of the metro.