GOOD Statement by Brett Herron,
GOOD Secretary-General & Member of Parliament
16 February 2023
The GOOD Party is joining the DA application seeking High Court intervention to stop the ANC’s attempted power grab in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.
Today’s application follows an illegal decision by the ANC-led Eastern Cape Provincial Government last year to keep power in Nelson Mandela Bay in ANC hands by changing the type of municipality from an Executive Mayoral system to a Mayoral Committee system.
The Province’s intervention followed the collapse of the ANC-led coalition governing the Metro last September. The ANC-led coalition was characterized by instability, dysfunctionality, and internal factionalism.
GOOD threw its weight behind a new multi-party coalition government and a DA Mayor, Retief Odendaal.
Rather than accepting the principle of majority rule in the Metro, Eastern Cape Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Zolile Williams decided to scrap the Mayoral Executive system in the Metro after amending Section 12 of the Municipal Structures Act.
This paved the way for a collective executive system, which takes powers away from the Mayor and instead gives it to a committee.
With the ANC and DA holding an equal number of seats in the Metro, they shared equal powers on the executive committee – a recipe for continued instability.
The constitutionality and validity of the MEC’s decision is now being challenged.
Coalitions are a natural consequence of a multi-party democratic system. Coalition governments have been proven to work internationally, but they don’t work without trust, compromise and good faith between the coalition partners.
In Nelson Mandela Bay, rather than see the ANC-led coalition legally booted out, the MEC has irrationally decided that where no party obtains an outright majority democracy requires that they both be included in the executive structure of the government concerned.
That is not how multi-party democracy works.
The MEC was either acting with ulterior purpose or fundamentally misunderstands the nature of coalition governance and majority rule.
Today’s court proceedings seek interim relief while the MEC’s decision is reviewed. Pending the outcome of the main challenge, proposed committees should not be established and the mayoral executive system should remain in place.
South Africa desperately needs stable municipalities, rooted in respect for democracy and service delivery, run by stable and functional coalitions where required.
The people of Nelson Mandela Bay need a government focused not on political wrangling and power but on addressing the multitude of critical issues facing the City.
Media Enquiries:
Brett Herron, GOOD Secretary-General & Member of Parliament
Cell: 0825183264
Email: bretth@forgood.org.za
Janke Tolmay, GOOD Media Manager
Cell: 0733671223
Email: janke@forgood.org.za