Deal clinched to save Nelson Mandela Bay coalition

A deal was clinched in Cape Town last night to save the Nelson Mandela Bay coalition from the brink of collapse.

The talks by the national leaders of the coalition – comprising the DA‚ UDM‚ Freedom Front Plus‚ ACDP and COPE – were a last-ditch effort to resolve the impasse created by the showdown between mayor Athol Trollip and his deputy‚ Mongameli Bobani.

• UDM's Bobani faces the chop as deputy mayor of Nelson Mandela BayNelson Mandela Bay deputy mayor Mongameli Bobani is no longer the mayoral committee member in charge of public health‚ and could soon be removed from his position as deputy mayor‚ if mayor Athol Trollip gets his way.

Trollip had said last week they would table a motion in the council to remove Bobani as deputy‚ while Bobani was said to be lobbying opposition parties to not only reject such a move‚ but rather support a bid to remove Trollip as mayor.

• Athol Trollip investigated for 'hacking' metro serverThe feud between Nelson Mandela Bay's mayor Athol Trollip and his deputy, Mongameli Bobani, has intensified with Bobani opening a criminal case against Trollip for allegedly hiring a company to "hack" the municipality's security system. 

The escalating battle between the DA’s Trollip and UDM’s Bobani reached boiling point when the deputy mayor was ousted as a member of the mayoral committee in charge of the public health portfolio.

UDM leader Bantu Holomisa objected‚ saying the DA could not act independently from other alliance partners.

The mayor and his deputy have been at loggerheads over various issues and have paralysed the stability of the metro.

• Full story in The Herald