The ACDP and Good have laid criminal charges against Nelson Mandela Bay executive mayor Gary van Niekerk for allegedly entering into a binding contract with a Gqeberha law firm in June 2022, when he was reportedly not a member of the council.
ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom said the municipality incurred a bill of R551,586 for legal services rendered to Van Niekerk in his personal capacity.
At the time of the alleged offences, Van Niekerk is accused of having misrepresented himself as a member of council after City manager Noxolo Nqwazi had told the IEC that the seats in council of Van Niekerk's party, the Northern Alliance (NA), were vacant. Nqwazi acted after a splinter group emerged within the NA.
The ACDP's Grootboom, along with Good's Lawrence Troon, opened a case of fraud and corruption against Van Niekerk at Gqeberha's Humewood Police Station on Tuesday.
"What he did is that he purported to be a councillor, and that is why a fraud charge has been opened here. We believe that is fraud because he misrepresented the municipality by saying he was a councillor and a speaker at a time when he was not," Grootboom said.
"By doing this he prejudiced the credibility of the council and he bound the institution financially when he had no authority to do so.
"As a consequence of his actions, Boqwana Burns Attorneys now demands payment of more than R500,000 for services rendered," he said.
Good councillor Troon said there is sufficient evidence to prove the allegations against NMBM's executive mayor.
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Responding to the allegations, Van Niekerk labelled the case against him as a feeble attempt by the ACDP to gain political relevance as it is now a "watered down version of the DA".
According to Van Niekerk, he acted in defence of the municipality, in his official capacity.
"Despite the action against my political party, we had an interdict in place that prohibited our removal as councillors.
"Since I was elected as the Speaker of Council by the majority of the Municipal Council, I fulfilled my duties as required, to the best of my abilities.
"The ultimate Order of the Court confirmed our good standing as councillors," he said.
Troon said the ACDP and Good would table a motion at the next council meeting, calling for Van Niekerk's suspension, pending investigations by the Rules and Ethics Committee.
Reacting to the planned motion, Van Niekerk said: "A vote of no-confidence, as part of this frivolous campaign, will be for political expediency and not because of any transgressions."
