Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Babalwa Lobishe suspends chief of staff amid parliament fallout

Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Babalwa Lobishe has placed her chief of staff, Mlungisi Lumka, on precautionary suspension.

Lumka was suspended on March 31 while Lobishe was attending a council meeting.

Lobishe accused Lumka of gross dereliction of duty after facing tough questions about not responding to several correspondence written to her following parliament’s cooperative governance and traditional affairs committee meeting on March 25.

Nelson Mandela Bay’s safety and security department came under fire on Tuesday when it emerged that only 18% of its budget had been spent by the end of February, with the clock ticking closer to the end of the financial year. During a safety and security committee meeting, councillors received a report on the directorate’s capital expenditure as of February 28. The report showed further that commitments moved the expenditure to 39%. The total capex budget is R72.35m. The items budgeted for but with the money not spent includes R10m for a firefighting vehicle with a rescue pump, R17m for the purchase of a hydraulic platform for fire and emergency services, and a lift to accommodate disabled people at the Sidwell traffic centre at a cost of R1m. DA councillor John Best described the spending as dismal, saying the department needed to get its act together. “We are now on 18%, and the problem I have is we’re at 18% with 70 days left. “But, in fact, we’ve actually got 40 days left because within that last month, you have to sort out payments.” The financial year ends on June 30. “If you order anything within a month, there’s no way you’re going to get it within 30 days,” Best said. “If we look at commitments, we’re at 39%, which is dismal, and I’m glad to hear you’ve engaged the city manager and CFO, but it’s a bit late. “I want to plead with safety and security that its sub-directorates need to sit down, have a look and see where we’re not going to spend the funds, and immediately have an additional adjustments budget that looks at the easy wins, which is motor vehicles. “One of the easy wins is fire vehicles. There’s R2.8m on repairs for vehicles for fire only.” He said 79 vehicles needed repairs. “Let’s channel those funds into where we can have quick wins. We can’t pat ourselves on the back. “We need to spend that money because it’s actually shocking,” Best said. ANC councillor Mphumzi Momo urged the committee to invite officials from the supply chain unit to expedite the appointment of contractors. “Supply chain needs to come closer to the department so that whatever we discuss here, they are part of it, so that there aren’t any excuses when we ask questions, especially when there are delays with funding expenditure. “Our cars are in a bad condition. At least we can utilise that amount.” Safety and security political head Luyanda Lawu agreed with the points raised by the committee members, saying that the supply chain unit would be invited to their meetings. Acting safety and security executive director Shadrack Sibiya told councillors they had approached the acting city manager and the CFO to address their concerns. “This is what assisted us in getting to the percentage we’re at. “Fire trucks alone in the capital budget account for about R30m out of the R72m budget we have. “We’re not patting ourselves on the back because we’ve got a lot to do. “We started this process in July, but we’ve been sent from pillar to post. “We’ve moved a lot of money to procure vehicles, which is a low-hanging fruit,” Sibiya said. Follow The Herald WhatsApp channel today and stay connected to the stories shaping our world.

She blamed Lumka and her assistants for not responding, telling parliament she had instructed him to take responsibility for missing parliament’s correspondence.

In her letter of intention to suspend him, Lobishe accused Lumka of bringing the municipality into disrepute.

Lobishe appeared before the committee to answer allegations over her role in leasing a R25m municipally owned transformer to Coega Steels without council approval.

At the meeting she conceded the decision was irregular.

Responding to Lobishe’s letter of intention to suspend him on March 26, a day after the mayor’s letter, Lumka accused Lobishe of having deliberately misled the parliamentary committee.

Speaking to The Herald on Thursday, Lumka confirmed he had been placed on precautionary suspension. Lumka was present when the council meeting started, but disappeared soon after.

Several smaller opposition parties in Nelson Mandela Bay are urging the ANC to back an expected motion of no confidence against mayor Babalwa Lobishe on Tuesday, offering her party the opportunity to appoint her replacement. Lobishe faces two motions submitted by the ACDP and the FF+, both on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting. The parties cited yet another pylon collapse and the controversial leasing of a R25m municipal transformer to Coega Steels, among other concerns. The meeting comes as large parts of the city have been without power for days, while others face intermittent water outages. Lobishe has also faced a backlash after her appearance at the co-operative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) portfolio committee in Cape Town last week, and is under attack from her own chief of staff, who accuses her of scapegoating, absentee leadership and presiding over a deepening governance crisis. Three smaller parties, the ACDP, FF+ and GOOD, along with former GOOD regional leader Siyanda Mayana, called a media briefing on Monday. Mayana, expelled from GOOD amid allegations of plotting to form a rival party, said Lobishe had proven to be incompetent. “We are no longer using the word allegedly now,” Mayana said. “The mayor conceded she signed documents she was not even supposed to be involved in.” At the Cogta meeting, Lobishe conceded the transformer lease was irregular. “She unlawfully signed it. “She has broken the law according to herself, and that’s not an allegation, it’s a fact.” Mayana said they needed to address the absence from the conference of the DA, which holds 48 of the 120 seats in the council. The ACDP (2), FF+ (2) and GOOD (1) hold five seats. The PA (2) is also in the opposition benches. The metro is governed with an ANC-led coalition, with the party having 48 seats. Coalition parties include the PAC (1), AIM (1), AIC (1), NA (3), EFF (8) and DOP (2). It often receives support from the UDM, which has one seat. For a motion to succeed, the ACDP, GOOD and FF+ would need the DA, EFF and several more smaller parties. “We have been trying to fix Nelson Mandela Bay, trying to rescue the situation in which the metro finds itself,” Mayana said. “We won’t dwell on how she got where she is. “Lord knows how they decided to elect her to be a mayor.” Mayana accused Lobishe of lying to parliament when she told the committee she had not received its correspondence. “When the mayor said she did not receive correspondence and that there was a letter of warning written to the PA, that was [allegedly] a blatant lie,” Mayana said. “Immediately when she said that, I contacted the PA, and fortunately, a member of parliament who was in contact with whoever and it was confirmed there was no such thing. “She then went on to say the letter was with the chief of staff, and we learnt that everything the mayor had claimed was [allegedly] a lie. “She called the chief of staff to [allegedly] fabricate a letter, and the chief of staff said no.” Her chief of staff, Mlungisi Lumka, claimed in his response to a suspension notice that Lobishe was aware of parliament’s letters and that he had not disciplined anyone. Mayana said they had approached different parties to support the motions against Lobishe. “The EFF will support the motion, which is the indication they’ve given me over the weekend. “Whether that’s true or not remains to be seen tomorrow. “The only issue the EFF had was removing the government. “We’re not removing government. “We said the structure can remain.” ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom said the city’s ongoing deterioration had prompted the motion. “This city has gone down,” Grootboom said. “People woke up without water in certain areas of this city, and this is due to a lack of maintenance in our infrastructure. “Wards 1, 2 and 3 have been affected by the collapse of pylons, knowing that there are problems. “Service delivery has gone down, which is the main reason for our motion, and her continuous stay as mayor will have a huge impact on our economy. “How dishonest is she by [allegedly] lying to parliament and by throwing her own employees under the bus. “What type of leader is that, and what kind of first citizen is she? “We saw from her chief of staff’s response that she [allegedly] lied.” Grootboom asked why residents should suffer if Lobishe was unable to read and respond to emails. “We believe the city has lost confidence and she is not the person to lead this city. “The ANC must deal with her. “We’re going to put pressure on the ANC. “The ANC and the EFF must decide. “We have a mayor who goes out, and all she does is hand out school shoes, taking pictures with no interest in service delivery. “The mayor is an embarrassment to the entire nation.” Grootboom said the EFF had the power to determine who became mayor on Tuesday, without the ANC. “If the EFF determines they will stay with the ANC and the ANC decides they’re going to support their mayor, then it’s clear the ANC has no interest in fixing Nelson Mandela Bay.” FF+ councillor Bill Harington said residents had no confidence in Lobishe. “The FF+ motion on the mayor isn’t brought up lightly,” he said. “The mayor has faced serious governance failures such as the unlawful removal of critical infrastructure and allegations of fraud, which have damaged the reputation of this city.” On the DA’s absence from the media conference, Harington said that, as the opposition, they did not report to the DA. “We don’t seek their support. “They have to make their own decision. “The FF+ will make its decision at the meeting. “The FF+ is not endorsing the ANC to stay in government.” GOOD councillor Lawrence Troon said there had never been a worse mayor in the Bay. “Last year, we tabled a similar motion and lo and behold it was the DA that defended the mayor. “That’s why our people should ask, why is the DA not here today?” Troon questioned the DA’s silence on the issues regarding the transformer and Lobishe’s frozen bank accounts. “Competence and good governance have never meant anything to the ANC,” he said. “Win or lose in council, I don’t care, but as long as the people of Nelson Mandela Bay know that the parties sitting at this table are sick and tired of what’s happening in this metro. “I’m calling on civil society to occupy City Hall until Lobishe leaves.” Some opposition and coalition partners said they had yet to discuss the motion, while others indicated they would support it and some would not. DA Eastern Cape leader Andrew Whitfield said they had to make decisions on what worked for the party and their constituency. “Removing her remains in the interests of the people of the Bay. “However, the problem is they are trying to do a deal with the devil that gave us Lobishe,” he said, referring to the smaller parties opting for the ANC to choose who replaces her. “Despite this, the DA still believes it is in the best interests to remove the mayor. “But we are concerned about the chaotic strategy of the minority parties who seek to replace Lobishe with another ANC cadre. “The DA is not part of any strategy to return ANC members. “Those parties seeking to replace one cadre with another will have to answer to their voters. “This is why the DA believes these motions generally bring instability.” He said the DA strongly believed the final motion of no confidence in the ANC must come at the local government elections. “Lobishe has been the worst mayor of a city in SA, and certainly of Nelson Mandela Bay.” He said none of the small parties had approached the DA. EFF regional leader Khanya Ngqisha said all agenda-related decisions were made at the caucus level. “We have not really had a caucus,” he said. “The parties have not approached us, not that I know of and even if they were to approach us, we’d first have to caucus and have a decision on the matter.” UDM councillor Luxolo Namette said his party was one of those that had asked for a report to the council on the leasing of the R25m transformer. “We have not seen this report,” he said. “Therefore, we can’t support this motion.” However, he said if the report was tabled at council and they were satisfied with the outcome, they would support the motion. “We can’t rely on social media to make a decision. “We will need the report.” ANC regional secretary Siphiwo Tshaka said the party would not support the motion. “That is on the basis that the ANC has its own internal processes to deal with every matter. “The other political parties opposed to the current government may wish to run our programmes but we’ve got our own process that we run to the letter, such as the PIC, which cleared the mayor on the issue of the transformer. “From where we are, Lobishe has not been charged with anything by any institutions. “No-one can push us into a corner. “We still believe the current government must be allowed to run. “We won’t support any motion of no confidence against Babalwa Lobishe.” Tshaka said the coalition was secure. Follow The Herald WhatsApp channel today and stay connected to the stories shaping our world.

Insiders say it was not even an hour after he had left the meeting when he was served with the suspension letter.

Lobishe declined to comment when asked to confirm if Lumka was on suspension.

“I won’t comment on an internal matter,” he said.

Follow The Herald WhatsApp channel today and stay connected to the stories shaping our world.

The Herald