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As elections loom, the fight for Mandela Bay metro intensifies

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Expelled Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi. Picture: Gallo
Expelled Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi. Picture: Gallo

Opposition parties, including the new United Front, are competing to wrest control of the municipality from the ANC, which has announced a R4.6bn housing project

The Nelson Mandela Bay Metro has become a primary battleground for next year’s local government elections, with opposition parties investing time and resources to wrest it from ANC control.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the DA are leading the fight while a new player, the United Front, seems to hold the trump card in this battle.

City Press sources claimed this week expelled labour federation Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi could be nominated to stand as the United Front’s mayoral candidate in the metro.

The Eastern Cape municipality is a stronghold of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) due to the booming motor industry there. This has boosted the confidence of the Numsa-aligned United Front.

In the 2006 local government elections, the ANC won the metro by a convincing 67%, while the DA managed 25%. However, in 2011, this was reduced to a small margin, with the ANC taking 51.5% compared with the DA’s much-improved 40.2%.

This week, national government announced a R4.6 billion housing-delivery intervention. Among other things, this will mean the building of bulk infrastructure and 15 600 houses around the municipality that will serve 15 700 residential sites.

Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu was quick to explain this was not because of next year’s local government elections, adding that the plan had been in the pipeline for at least the past eight months.

“It has nothing to do with the elections; we will continue beyond the elections. This is a medium-term fund we are using, so whatever government comes in, if it’s not the [current] government of Nelson Mandela Bay, we will be bound by this agreement,” she said.

This week, opposition parties begged to differ.

DA leader in the Eastern Cape Athol Trollip, who will also run as the party’s mayoral candidate in the municipality, said because the DA was planning to win the municipality, it welcomed the national pledge of money and intervention specifically directed at dealing with housing challenges and backlogs.

“However, we smell a little political ploy here. We smell it because it is a regular ploy the ANC uses before elections,” said Trollip.

He referred to President Jacob Zuma’s promise of R360 million for the Nooitgedacht low-pressure water system that was made before last year’s general elections. However, this has not materialised.

Trollip said money was not forthcoming and Treasury did not know anything about it. Instead, he said: “We are heading towards a period of water restrictions and water scarcities in Port Elizabeth.

“So what the ANC says and what it does when it comes to elections are two entirely different things,” he said.

The EFF expressed its doubts too. The party said the housing project was just “another scheme to enrich ANC politicians”.

EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said government and ANC politicians had done almost everything except come up with solutions on how to resolve what he described as the “parasitic culture” embedded in the municipality.

Ndlozi added that government’s announcements were part of an effort to counter the impact of the EFF on the ground and affirmed that in his party’s view the ANC was “afraid of the EFF”.

“We have been here [in Port Elizabeth] for the past four weeks and the ANC is losing ground. The people are tired of the ANC,” said Ndlozi.

But the ANC is not taking the fight lightly.

ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa confirmed that President Zuma and ANC national officials, with the national working committee (NWC), would descend on the metro on Sunday morning.

“The NWC and national officials will hold several meetings with stakeholders, including the regional task team led by Charles Nqakula, the provincial executive committee and other clusters.

“The meeting will take place on Sunday and Monday,” said Kodwa.

EFF leader Julius Malema said an energetic young person was needed to lead the municipality and not an old man.

He was referring to Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor Benson Fihla, who had been deployed to the area by the ANC in 2013 at the age of 80.

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