In a short but drama-filled sitting, a special council meeting collapsed on Wednesday as a mystery appeal was filed suspending a court order allowing three councillors of the Northern Alliance to attend the meeting where a motion of no confidence was to be heard against mayor Eugene Johnson.
With each mayoral committee member having declared themselves ‘mayor’, the Nelson Mandela Bay metro was plunged into what the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Xolile Nqatha, described as ‘lawlessness and chaos’ in the ANC-led coalition government.
As the ANC suffered yet another crushing blow with the loss of power in one of the three metros it governs, acting party secretary-general Paul Mashatile described this as a sign of things to come.