The ongoing leadership vacuum in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro raises concerns as Parliament investigates irregular job hiring and the absence of an acting city manager.

On Wednesday, 6 May, just after lunch, an increasingly annoyed Dr Zweli Mkhize, chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), looked up from his laptop screen at the delegation from the Nelson Mandela Bay metro.

"I have a circular that I was made aware of [advertising] two positions [in the metro]. It is in the Traffic and Licensing Services, Grade 4, with a salary range of R201,000. Do you remember this?" he asked the metro's chief financial officer, Jackson Ngcelwane. The circular bore a signature ostensibly belonging to Ngcelwane as acting city manager.

Ngcelwane replied, "While I was sitting here, I was informed of the same circular. I do not know how my name got to be in an internal circular, naming myself as the acting city manager."

The committee had spent all morning questioning the flawed processes used to appoint yet another acting city manager for the metro. The metro's permanent city manager, Dr Noxolo Nqwazi, has been suspended and is currently on trial for fraud, corruption, money laundering and contravening the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA).

She was suspended in 2024, and since then, the metro has had a series of acting...