The clash between Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Babalwa Lobishe and suspended chief of staff Mlungisi Lumka took centre stage in parliament on Wednesday.
Lobishe — accompanied by speaker Eugene Johnson, chief financial officer Jackson Ngcelwane and mayoral adviser Gcinibandla Mtukela — appeared before parliament’s portfolio committee on co-operative governance and traditional affairs, chaired by Zweli Mkhize.
Items on the agenda for the day included:
- the appointment of an executive director for infrastructure and engineering;
- the mayor’s non-responsiveness to parliament’s letters;
- the leasing of a R25m transformer; and
- evergreen contracts.
Tensions flared when DA MP Marina van Zyl asked Lobishe whether she wished to respond to a 14-page letter written by Lumka, following her previous appearance before the committee.
Lumka was suspended on March 31 after Lobishe accused him of gross dereliction of duty, following tough questions about her failure to respond to several correspondence sent after a Cogta committee meeting on March 25. She blamed Lumka and her assistants for not responding.
In her letter of intention to suspend him, Lobishe accused Lumka of bringing the municipality into disrepute.
She owes this committee, the public and the council of Nelson Mandela Bay an apology because she misled the council of Nelson Mandela Bay about her views. Those were not facts, and her views were incorrect.
— MK Party MP Jeffrey Mtolo
Responding to Lobishe’s letter of intention to suspend him on March 26, a day after the mayor’s letter, Lumka accused Lobishe of having deliberately misled the parliamentary committee.
“We’ve seen the letter of the chief of staff in the media, and you had an intention to suspend your chief of staff. Would you like to respond to the letter?” Van Zyl said.
Lobishe said it was unfortunate that Lumka had penned the letter containing those allegations. She said there were many inaccuracies and labelled it defamatory. However, she asked that she respond to Lumka’s letter in writing.
Van Zyl said she was not asking about the processes relating to the chief of staff but rather to reply to its contents.
“The mayor said there were a lot of unfounded or non-factual things that the chief of staff had written in his 14-page letter that need to be recorded. I would like her to record it now, please, because it’s an opportunity,” she said.
“Don’t say we need to record something, and then you don’t tell us what needs to be recorded, because there are 14 pages. Can you record them here on record as mayor, to say these are not factual statements?
“Then I wanted to find out when the chief of staff was informed of his suspension, and how that was done, and the date.”
Van Zyl also questioned Lobishe how many times Metro FM wrote to her before she responded. Last month Lobishe attended the Metro FM Music Awards in KwaZulu-Natal.
EFF MP Hlengiwe Mkhaliphi declined Lobishe’s request to respond in writing.
“We can’t have that because last time we were here, she said that she would submit responses in writing. We expressed this view before that we’re not questioning her personally but she’s the mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay and we’re protecting residents,” Mkhaliphi said.
[Lumka] is making insinuations about other staff members, which are also not factual because, as a leader administratively in the office, he has not been able to coordinate them well, nor guide them
— Babalwa Lobishe, Nelson Mandela Bay mayor
During the meeting Lobishe was also taken to task over remarks she made in council, where she told councillors the committee had mistreated her. MK Party MP Jeffrey Mtolo asked Lobishe what she meant by that.
“She owes this committee, the public and the council of Nelson Mandela Bay an apology because she misled the council of Nelson Mandela Bay about her views. Those were not facts, and her views were incorrect.
“Mayor, you owe this committee an unconditional apology — and the people of Nelson Mandela Bay,” he said.
After an extensive debate, Lobishe eventually responded.
“On the letter of Lumka, I’m saying it’s defamatory because it’s raising that there’s mis-leadership,” she said.
“I have been present from day 1 and also attending to his own duties, which he has never done. In the months he has been in office, he has not produced a single document for his own work, which he can account.
“In the document that he has written, he is making insinuations about other staff members, which are also not factual because, as a leader administratively in the office, he has not been able to coordinate them well, nor guide them.”
Mkhize later instructed Lobishe to respond to Lumka’s letter point by point, addressing the allegations against her and providing details to support her claim that parliament had mistreated her.
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