Danny Jordaan, the man the ANC wants to head the City of Nelson Mandela Bay.
Image: MyPE
In a move that many have seen coming, the ruling African National Congress has elected the South African Football Association President, Danny Jordaan to be the Mayor of the City of Nelson Mandela Bay in the Eastern Cape, it was announced on Monday. Jordaan, who is a descendant of Port Elizabeth, rose to prominence when he played a big role in ensuring that the FIFA Soccer World Cup came to South Africa in 2010. He was also recently appointed the president of the soccer governing body in the country, SAFA and has played a major role in the governance of the sport in the country in the recent past.
Making the announcement at a press conference on Monday, the Secretary General of the ANC, Gwede Mantashe, said that Jardaan, who replaces 83-year-old Benson Fihla, was not the only change that the ruling party would be making to the city’s structure. In addition, Mantashe said that incumbent deputy mayor, Chippa Ngcolomba would be replaced by Bricks Ndoni while Joy Searle, who has enjoyed the position of chief whip, would make way for Litharge Suka. The only person in the top echelons of the party’s municipal structure to retain their position would be Speaker, Maria Hermans. Mantashe said that while these positions were immediate, the whole appointment process would need to follow its due course whereby the old councillors would need to vacate their positions and allow the new members to be sworn in. After that, the vacant posts would be declared, allowing council to vote for these three that the ANC would have put forward. While acknowledging the fact that the positions may not carry through if his party did not garner enough votes for them, Mantashe said that their only course of action was to take the matter to a vote. “We cannot determine the outcome of the vote. The vote will take place in council chambers, but we can’t delay the decision. We can only put it to the vote,” Mantashe said.
Turning to the outgoing members, Secretary General Mantashe thanked them for their contribution to the party and the city and said they would be redeployed to other areas. He said their new positions were not for public consumption at the time. He made particular mention of the outgoing mayor, Ben Fihla for what he said was accepting “redeployment with ease.”
According to Sport24, Jordaan will keep his position as SAFA president.
