Danny Jordaan started his first day as the mayor of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro humbled by the honour bestowed on him by the African National Congress (ANC)‚ but mindful too of challenges the party faces ahead of local government polls. Jordaan‚ who is also president of the South African Football Association‚ replaced 82-year-old Ben Fihla‚ who was widely criticised for his inability to unite the region and focus on service delivery.The ANC-led metro has been hamstrung by factional battles and is widely believed to be heading for an electoral defeat by the opposition DA in next year's local government elections.Among Jordaan’s first tasks will be to study the city’s budget‚ which was supposed to be tabled on Thursday. Instead‚ The Herald tweeted Jordaan will “peruse and give political direction” on the budget‚ and council will reconvene in seven days to debate it.The budget must be geared towards an investment in infrastructure‚ said Jordaan‚ and he vowed to work “towards a budget of surpluses”.Jordaan told the council sitting that he was “standing in front of you today as a son of the city”. It was a city in which‚ he said‚ he learnt his politics‚ and a city in which he watched his house being “bulldozed”.Jordaan acknowledged that there were tough challenges ahead‚ amongst them a rampant crime problem‚ and some places in the city were “no-go areas”. Justice‚ Jordaan said‚ means safety from gangs‚ and pledged that peace would be restored to the city.“In coming weeks‚ we will announce concrete plans and interventions on how to deal with these‚” he added.Jordaan said that things “will not be business as usual”‚ and hinted that the metro may introduce some austerity measures‚ including cutting back on international travel.This‚ The Herald tweeted‚ was thus received: “Crowd claps. Officials sit still‚ no reaction.”Jordaan also raised concerns about a brain-drain when he claimed that only 12% of people in the metro have higher education‚ the lowest level in the country‚ and that what was “more concerning is that those 12% then leave our city”.“Today is a homecoming for me‚” Jordaan concluded. Bicks Ndoni was sworn in as the metro’s new deputy mayor.Earlier‚ Jordaan looked calm as he took to the podium to make his maiden mayoral speech despite “the Fifa elephant in the room”‚ The Herald tweeted.Fifa‚ soccer’s world governing body‚ has been rocked by the arrests of some its top officials on corruption charges. South Africa’s 2010 World Cup bid and an alleged $10-million bribe to secure have been mentioned in an FBI indictment behind the arrests. As he was speaking‚ the DA released a statement saying it had written to the chairperson of Parliament's sport committee calling Jordaan to explain the allegations that SA's 2010 Bid Committee facilitated bribes to secure the hosting rights for the 2010 World Cup. “As the CEO of the Bid Committee‚ Danny Jordaan oversaw the 2010 bid strategy. His role in these allegations must be probed‚” the DA said...