The Nelson Mandela Bay council closed off this administration the same way it started back in 2021 — chaotic.
Tuesday’s special council meeting was supposed to deal with matters that should never have been allowed to linger — the long-running crisis surrounding suspended city manager Noxolo Nqwazi, as well as the ratification of payments for essential services, including street lights and pothole repairs.
Instead, the meeting was adjourned as councillors turned their attention to the looming 2026 local government elections, now barely a month away.
It was a fitting end to an administration that has too often appeared unable to keep its own house in order.
Had Tuesday’s meeting proceeded, the agenda would have offered yet another uncomfortable glimpse into the way the institution is being run — with crucial matters piling up and scores of mayoral resolutions left for the next administration to deal with.
It gives the impression of an administration caught off guard by the arrival of its own deadline, despite having had five years to plan, govern and prepare.
The municipality has increasingly had to rely on deviations and last-minute interventions to keep basic functions moving, raising serious questions about planning, oversight and accountability.
Mayor Babalwa Lobishe opted to skip the sitting and instead attend a media briefing at the Coega Development Corporation which included foreign media.
There, she told media from abroad that the municipality was providing reliable municipal services and that the city had allocated millions of rand in electricity upgrades that would assist Coega.
Just looking at Tuesday’s council agenda, one wonders how anything was achieved.
From the numerous appearances before parliament’s co-operative governance and traditional affairs portfolio committee, one thing remains utterly clear and that is, the municipality cannot continue without an administrative head, and whoever comes in after the elections needs to have the Nqwazi item as the most critical and pressing thing on their agenda.