With each mayoral committee member having declared themselves 'mayor', the Nelson Mandela Bay metro was plunged into what MEC for cooperative governance and traditional affairs Xolile Nqatha described as 'lawlessness and chaos' in the ANC-led coalition government.

Following the collapse of the largest metro in the Eastern Cape under a chaotic coalition government, the MEC for cooperative governance and traditional affairs has given notice to the municipality that he intends to change its structure to move away from the system that allows for a mayor and a mayoral committee member to have significant roles in running the city's affairs.

MEC Xolile Nqatha has written to the municipality to indicate his intent to move the municipality from an executive mayor system to a different system of governance - one that will have a ceremonial mayor, and for the city to be run by an executive committee that is elected by the city council, with local matters being dealt with by ward committees. Representation on these committees is similar to party representation in council.

This is along the lines of a new coalition proposed by Nelson Mandela Bay's Civil Society Forum, an organisation of NGOs, civil rights groups and clerics who intervened...