Maimane takes tour to Nelson Mandela Bay

01 June 2015 - 11:22 By RDM News Wire

Mmusi Maimane is likely to take aim at newly inaugurated Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Danny Jordaan when he takes his Freedom‚ Fairness & Opportunity Tour to the metro on Monday. The recently elected Democratic Alliance (DA) leader will hold a public meeting and walkabouts in Uitenhage and Kwazakele with the party’s mayoral candidate Athol Trollip‚ and constituency leader Marshall von Bochenroder and Edmund van Vuuren.Within days of Jordaan‚ who is also the president of the South African Football Association‚ taking over the helm of the troubled metro‚ news broke of bribery allegations around the successful bid to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup.Sports minister Fikile Mbalula on Sunday confirmed that $10-million had been paid to the Confederation of North‚ Central American and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) after SA secured the rights to host the 2010 World Cup‚ but said there was no bribery involved.Jordaan has also maintained there was no bribery and was reported to have said that the money was paid to Concacaf in 2008 for development.Although Jordaan was installed as mayor to applause last week‚ the City Press reported that some African National Congress (ANC) councillors disgruntled by the appointment of Jordaan are hell-bent on sabotaging him.The newspaper said they are threatening to vote for the DA leader candidate instead of Jordaan and their “fight-back strategy” will involve cancelling out the ANC majority by having councillors submit sick notes‚ make apologies or simply go AWOL.When Maimane launched his Freedom‚ Fairness & Opportunity Tour‚ he threw some punches at what he said was a weakened ruling party in the province.“There is a wind of change sweeping across the country. And it has been felt right here‚ on this campus‚ in the beautiful Eastern Cape‚” DA leader Mmusi told Fort Hare University students.He was visiting the campus that saw his party’s student wing‚ Daso‚ win the recent student representative council (SRC) polls in an upset for the ruling ANC-aligned incumbents.Maimane said while newspaper made it “sound like this was unexpected”‚ Maimane said at the time‚ “we‚ in the DA‚ certainly saw it coming.“And make no mistake‚ the ANC saw this coming too. If they weren’t really nervous about the possibility of defeat‚ they would never have sent their big guns to come and campaign here.“When is the last time you saw ANC heavyweights like Cyril Ramaphosa‚ Malusi Gigaba and Fikile Mbalula deployed to a university campus to campaign for SRC elections? It has never happened.Jordaan's appointment also followed what the DA claimed was an intervention by senior ANC figures - including party secretary-general‚ Gwede Mantashe - who visited the region.The DA described the deployment of Jordaan as “nothing more than a pre-election gimmick by a party that has lost the confidence of the people”.He replaced 82-year-old Ben Fihla‚ who is widely said to have been unable to unite the region and focus local government on delivery...

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