Nelson Mandela Bay

Nelson Mandela Bay Mayoral Committee. Photo: Mayor Retief Odendaal/ Facebook.

Nelson Mandela Bay Executive Committee addresses confusion

Executive Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay Retief Odendaal addresses confusion about his Position and that of the Executive Committee

Nelson Mandela Bay

Nelson Mandela Bay Mayoral Committee. Photo: Mayor Retief Odendaal/ Facebook.

The Nelson Mandela Bay Executive Committee led by Mayor Retief Odendaal has addressed the confusion about their removal in Office.

NELSON MANDELA BAY EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT

Mayor Odendaal unpacked what has led to the confusion and how they are mitigating the entire crisis.

“There is currently a lot of confusion regarding whether I have been removed as Executive Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay, and whether or not the coalition government remains intact. I want to use this opportunity to set the record straight.”

Odendaal

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He said: “By virtue of the Gazette of the Section 12 notice last week, which seeks to change the system of governance from a Mayoral Executive to a Collective Executive, theoretically the Office of Executive Mayor of NMB no longer exists.
We have been told that, following the Gazette, the parties who qualify for representation on the Collective Executive have 14 days to put their representatives forward.
However, we have launched an urgent court application to prevent the implementation of the proposed changes, which we don’t believe is in the interest of the administration of the municipality or in the interests of the residents of NMB”.

ODENDAAL APPLIES FOR SECTION 12 AMENDMENT SUSPENSION



“The application is in two parts, the first of which is to have the Section 12 amendment suspended until the main application is concluded.
This part of the application is set down to be heard in the Gqeberha High Court next week Friday, the 30th of December 2022,” he added.

Odendal says In the main application, which will be heard at a later date, they will argue that the MEC’s decision to change the system of governance of the municipality is politically motivated and that the reasons given for the changes are irrational and have no merit.

“The proposal to change the system of governance in a municipality, a year after the local government elections has never been done in South Africa.
It is also my belief that should this process be implemented as proposed, it will plunge the administration of NMB into chaos and paralyze service delivery to our residents.
We are already seeing the impact of this in the confusion regarding the validity of the position of Executive Mayor and the coalition,” he explained.
He said they will not be deterred and will continue to serve the residents of Nelson Mandela Bay to the best of their ability.

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THE COATION PARTNERS BELIEVE THEY HAVE A STRONG CASE

“Should the first part of the application be successful next week, it will result in the gazette being suspended and will mean that I would have, in fact, been Executive Mayor all along and that the actions of the MEC are put in abeyance until the court has reviewed it.
We believe that our case has strong merits and have no doubt that the MEC will be embarrassed by the outcome.
My coalition partners and I will continue to fight to save Nelson Mandela Bay, not for ourselves or our own agendas, but for the people of this great city,” Odendaal committed.