Nelson Mandela Bay gets new mayor after Gary Van Niekerk resignation

The National Alliance’s Gary Van Niekerk has officially resigned as mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, in the Eastern Cape, with his deputy assuming the mayoral role.

Ahead of Thursday’s council meeting, Van Niekerk confirmed he had submitted his resignation to Nelson Mandela Bay speaker Eugene Johnson.

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He also noted that deputy mayor Babalwa Lobishe, who is the  African National Congress’ (ANC) regional chairperson, has resigned from her current role to assume the position of executive mayor.

Van Niekerk will step in as the new deputy mayor.

The National Alliance president and councillor denied that his resignation was due to opposition pressure or internal coalition conflicts with the ANC and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).

Following her election, Lobishe told the media that the ANC had decided a month ago to take over leadership of Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.

She explained that she needed to be interviewed by her party and be reinstated as a councillor before taking on the mayoral role.

Lobishe stated that her top priorities as mayor would be to stabilise the city’s finances and eliminate irregular expenditure.

Gary Van Niekerk’s tenure as Nelson Mandela Bay mayor

Van Niekerk was elected as the mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay in May 2023, but his tenure was marked by no-confidence motions, a series of scandals and conflicts within his own party.

In October 2023, a faction within the National Alliance announced that Van Niekerk’s party membership had been terminated.

Following this, former Nelson Mandela Bay speaker Noxolo Nqwazi declared his council seat vacant.

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However, Van Niekerk successfully challenged the decision in the Eastern Cape High Court in Gqeberha, allowing him to remain as mayor.

Prior to his mayoral role, he served as the municipality’s council speaker from November 2021 until his election as mayor.

Since the ANC lost its majority in the 2016 local government elections, Nelson Mandela Bay has been plagued by political infighting among parties.

Tensions deepened after the 2021 municipal elections, as neither the ANC nor the DA won enough seats for outright control of the metro.