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Danny Jordaan, the new mayor of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, is remaining true to his proclamation that he is nobody’s puppet by appointing a mayoral committee against some of the wishes of the provincial ANC.
Sources told City Press some councillors were unhappy that they were not reappointed despite being assured by the provincial ANC leadership that their jobs were safe.
Jordaan announced his mayoral committee on Thursday.
One councillor, who asked not to be named, said Jordaan, who was appointed mayor last month, had been asked to keep the same mayoral committee that served under his predecessor, Ben Fihla, to maintain stability.
But Jordaan replaced half the team with his own choices, including Andiswa Mama as the head of youth, sport and culture, Rory Riordan as head of budget and treasury, Nomvuselelo Tontsi as head of human settlements, Feziwe Sibeko as head of corporate services and Zukile Jodwana as head of economic development, tourism and agriculture.
Those who survived the chop were Fikile Desi (safety and security), Babalwa Lobishe (roads and transport), Joy Seale (public health) and Andile Mfunda (infrastructure and engineering).
Jimmy Tutu, who was the chairperson of the municipal public accounts committee, resigned the day before Jordaan announced his new team.
A councillor said some of his colleagues who had lost their positions were considering resigning from the council.
One of the councillors who was not retained told City Press he was not happy, but understood the decision.
He said there was, however, a lot of unhappiness among some councillors who had been told their jobs were safe only to be “dropped” by Jordaan at the last moment.
“There is no telling what people are going to do; others are thinking of resigning, but are reluctant to do so in fear of being purged,” said the councillor.
Last month, when Jordaan, who is also the president of Safa, was sworn in as mayor, he insisted he was nobody’s puppet when asked if the ANC was using his popularity to attract votes.
He later insisted nothing was finalised in terms of the composition of his mayoral team – despite the ANC having already advised him to retain Fihle’s team.
On Thursday, the ANC in the province did not issue a media statement congratulating the new mayoral committee appointees, as is the norm for the governing party, which issues releases on every major development in the province.
But Oscar Mabuyane, ANC provincial secretary, played down the situation, saying there could be no more excuses about factional divisions now that Jordaan had chosen his mayoral team.
He said the party wanted to give the new mayor space to work.
“We have agreed in principle that we need a very unconventional method to turn around Nelson Mandela Bay. We want to appeal to everyone to support the mayor and the team and the entire caucus,” he said.
Asked whether the mayor had followed the party’s advice in terms of who should be appointed, Mabuyane said: “We had discussions with the mayor, and [the appointed mayoral committee] was the mayor’s view, but it was also based on the assessment that was done on where the areas of intervention were needed.”
He said the province supported Jordaan.
Mabuyane said they did not want to micromanage municipalities and stressed that Jordaan had discussed his choice of mayoral-committee members with the provincial-deployment committee and provincial leadership.
Mabuyane said they acknowledged that there would always be people unhappy with decisions because they felt they deserved to have been appointed.
“It will never be a perfect situation. It is a question of people being mature and accepting the reality that we have on the ground. We appeal to our people to understand that deployment is not sacrosanct – it goes with the challenge at the moment,” Mabuyane said.
On Tutu’s resignation, Mabuyane said it had been voluntary.
In announcing his mayoral team on Thursday, Jordaan said he had considered five key principles: nonracialism, nonsexism, generational mix, geographic spread and competence.
“Our primary purpose is to chart the way forward for constructive and practical engagement by the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality, which will serve as a catalyst to reinvigorate and inspire deep consciousness within our diverse communities about our history as a people in building a united, nonracial, nonsexist and democratic Nelson Mandela Bay,” Jordaan said.
“As a united community, we are cognisant that we comprise people who come from diverse backgrounds, with values and cultures that over the years have enriched the fabric of society into a resplendent tapestry of diversity.”
