The Type of Mayor That I Will Vote For

This morning I had the privilege to chat one oon one with one of Mayoral Candidates vying for our vote on 4 November 2026. It was whilst listening to his ‘Reasons why you should vote for me patter’ and his track record that I thought to myself that he could actually be close to the type of Mayor with the right experience in different fields that I think the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality should have.

As the meeting was for a different purpose than information for the media I feel that it would not be correct for me to name this person.

We have heard many of the candidates mouth on and on about institutional failures and all the other high level programmes that they will institute in order to fix Nelson Mandela Bay.

I have yet to hear one Mayor promise to attend to these items on my list:

1. Remove all party, race and gender restrictions from terms of employment within the Municipality. I know that this is a big ask so then let’s start with just this: Remove the silent requirement that to succeed in the Municipality one has to belong to the ruling party. Make it clear that the only requirement is one of service and excellence, make the institution a place where people want to work.
2. Give Municipal workers a safe, enjoyable and rewarding place to work in.
3. Promise to slowly tackle the current ruling parties fear mongering amongst the vast voter base in the townships that benefit from fiscal anarchy – no electricity gets paid, no water gets paid, no rates are paid and no plans demanded for any form of building activity. To win the LGE 2026 all the ruling party has to do (instead of T-Shirts and KFC) is remind this voting block that the DA represents a return to apartheid and even greater fiscal hardship.
4. Change council as follows: no more party blocks, all councillors sit in Ward order, all PR councillors sit in vote number order. The Mayor must instruct the Councillors to ONLY vote on motions according to a single principle; “What is right for the City!” Cut back on the reams of paper produced and ban party caucasing before and during the Council Meeting.
5. A Mayor that places his/herself in between the Policical Parties and the Municipality as a mediator – all complaints and suggestions from Ward Councillors to Muncipality and vice versa go through the Mayor’s Office. Thus, removing the buddy buddy system that Ward Councillors have with present officials which is a worry when it comes to corruption.
6. A caring Mayor will act like our CEO – one that is honest, firm and fair whilst putting the City first time and time again.
7. A person that I can safely ask to babysit my children or even babysit my business for a week or so is my ultimate aim.

Too much to ask?