Three Nelson Mandela Bay mayoral chains worth millions are missing

Three gold mayoral chains worth multiple millions of rands have gone missing from the mayor’s office in the city hall in Nelson Mandela Bay, in the Eastern Cape.

The most valuable of the priceless memorabilia is the 18-carat gold chain belonging to the current metro mayor Gary van Niekerk. It is valued at more than R3 million.

It was kept inside a very secured lock-and-key safe housed behind an electronic glass door in the mayor’s office.

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Irreplaceable memorabilia

Also missing is a mayoress chain worn by a sitting mayor’s wife during official ceremonies and another mayoral chain which used to belong to the mayor of Walmer Municipality.

Walmer Municipality was absorbed by the neighbouring Port Elizabeth in 1965.

On Tuesday, Roelf Basson, a one-time custodian of the chains who left the municipality two years ago, told The Citizen he looked after the chains for a long time with pride.

“That irreplaceable memorabilia was valuable to me in terms of our history. I handed everything down to the person who took over from me two years back and I don’t know what happened after that,” said Basson.   

Luckily, two other chains, belonging to former mayors of Uitenhage and Despatch, which are also under Nelson Mandela Bay’s custody, were being kept at museums, revealed Basson.

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Multiple millions

He said the chains in the safe were evaluated regularly for insurance purposes and that their value is in the asset register at the city hall.

“These items are worth multiple million rands,” he added.

The chains have not been seen in seven months after the custodian of the pieces was demoted from the acting director position in the mayor’s office to a clerk, in June 2023.

According to the chief-of-staff in the mayor’s office, Vasu Padauachy, the now under-fire employee has been refusing to disclose the whereabouts of the chains or furnish him with the safe’s key for the past seven months.

This has led the city to serve Giovanne Joseph, the former acting director in the mayor’s office, with a letter of intention to suspend amid an ongoing internal investigation.

Passed down

Twelve mayor’s since 1994 wore the historic chain during their inaugurations and on prestigious special ceremonies.

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Athol Trollip, the ousted NMB DA mayor who wore it once in 2016 at his inauguration attended by then Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille, described the piece as intricate and ostentatious.

“I remember thinking that the Nelson Mandela Bay mayoral chain was so much more intricate and ostentatious. I remember it being very heavy and it was apparently gold and worth a fortune. It was so ornate with heavy gong,” Trollip recalled during an interview with The Citizen.

Great loss

He said if it’s gone missing it would be a travesty and great loss of historical significance.

Trollip was later ousted through a motion of no confidence by an ANC-led coalition government.  

The chain was passed down from mayors of the former apartheid governments.  

Retired jeweller Steve Wilson, 80, of Steve Wilson Jewellers, did maintenance on the three chains from the 80s right up until former Mayor Nceba Faku’s tenure around 2006.

“They were 18 carat gold chains. It is unfortunately very difficult to estimate a value without recalling the exact weight… but my guess would be in excess of R3 million,” he said.

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His son Ernest Wilson recalled working on his father’s shop straight from school in the early 1990s.

“They used to be dropped by the mayor’s driver – a man named Monty in a big box inside a black leather case. The chains were gold and decorated with blue enamel. Assisting my father work on them was exciting,” Ernest said.

Demotion triggered tensions

Northern Alliance mayor, Van Niekerk, demoted Joseph when he took to office in May 2023 after an ANC-led coalition toppled a DA-led coalition during a special council sitting removing then mayor Retief Odendaal.

Padauachy said Joseph, whose original job title is clerk, was acting director in the mayor’s office when Van Niekerk got into office. He allegedly took the demotion very badly.

Because his term of office was up, Padauachy said Van Niekerk decided to appoint Hope Peters as acting director until her acting position expired on 31 December 2023.

Liesel Daniels was then appointed when the mayor returned from the Christmas holidays on 10 January 2024.

“Giovanni was suspended because of serious allegations of gross misconduct including insubordination. We have since June 2023 requested that he return the keys of the safe and other storerooms that he had in his possession as the acting director. He has to date refused to hand over those keys. The most valuable asset in the safe would be the mayoral chain,” Padauachy told The Citizen.

Efforts to seek a comment from Joseph were unsuccessful at the time of publication. His  comment will be added once received.

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