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Residents of Nelson Mandela Bay are the true winners after today’s cancellation of the special council meeting, called to debate a motion of no confidence against Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor, Retief Odendaal, and senior leadership.

The cancellation of this frivolous council meeting means that Mayor Odendaal and his multi-party coalition partners can continue to focus on ensuring that residents get the services they are entitled to.

The ANC/EFF Doomsday Coalition petitioned for a special council meeting. They declared that motions of no confidence in Mayor Odendaal, the Deputy Mayor, and the Chief Whip of the Council would be debated. However, they could not even pass the first hurdle of filing motions that complied with the council rules.

No motion was signed off by any councillor or submitted to the Speaker to be placed on the meeting agenda.

Unfortunately, we had to threaten legal action before the Speaker finally cancelled the meeting.

The DA remains committed to working with all members of the multi-party coalition, around the common goal of putting the people of Nelson Mandela Bay first.

We also remain resolute in our commitment to fight for what is right, to ensure good governance, and to safeguard the funds entrusted to us, ensuring that these funds are used to benefit all residents of this great Metro.

The DA will not allow frivolous and flawed attempts to destabilise the city’s coalition government to distract us from getting Nelson Mandela Bay working again.

Issued by Andrew Whitfield MP - DA EC Provincial Leader