GQEBERHA, Wednesday 30 September 2026 — Nelson Mandela Bay’s unresolved dispute over suspended city manager Noxolo Nqwazi is set to pass to the council elected on 4 November after the metro’s final scheduled council meeting before the local government elections collapsed because too few councillors attended.
Council Speaker Eugene Johnson adjourned Tuesday’s meeting after confirming that the chamber did not have a quorum. She subsequently announced that the council would go into recess from Wednesday, leaving no further scheduled meetings before a new municipal government is constituted after the election.
The collapse prevented councillors from considering correspondence from Nqwazi’s lawyers and a report concerning her position that had been submitted by Executive Mayor Babalwa Lobishe.
It extends a leadership dispute that has left the metro without a resolution on who should permanently occupy its most senior administrative position as voters prepare to elect a new council.
Final meeting fails to reach quorum
Johnson told the council that apologies had been received from several political parties and from Lobishe.
Fewer than 10 ANC councillors attended, according to Daily Maverick, while several opposition seats were also empty.
The EFF had informed Johnson before the meeting that its caucus would not attend because it was concentrating on campaigning.
EFF caucus leader Khanya Ngqisha argued that the council should already have entered its pre-election recess and said the party was not aware of an emergency or exceptional issue requiring another sitting.
The meeting was the third convened in three weeks after the previous two were postponed.
Its agenda extended beyond the Nqwazi dispute and included the ratification of several municipal-manager decisions and other municipal expenditure matters.
Nqwazi dispute remains unresolved
Nqwazi has been on precautionary suspension for more than two years.
Her disciplinary process was terminated earlier this month after chairperson Professor Adriaan van der Walt found that the municipality had failed to comply with requirements governing disciplinary proceedings against senior municipal managers.
Among the problems identified was the council’s failure to determine whether the alleged misconduct was serious or less serious before commencing the disciplinary process.
Van der Walt did not determine the merits of the misconduct allegations, and the ruling allowed the council to begin a new process if it chose to do so.
The municipality subsequently maintained that the termination of the disciplinary proceedings did not automatically lift Nqwazi’s suspension.
Acting city manager Lonwabo Ngoqo instructed officials not to allow her access to municipal premises or systems while the municipality considered its next steps.
Armed security guards were deployed at City Hall last week as the dispute over whether Nqwazi could return to work intensified.
R6.7m paid during suspension
Nqwazi received approximately R6.7 million in salary between February 2024 and April 2026 while suspended, according to information previously presented to Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
She also faces separate criminal proceedings relating to an allegedly irregular R24 million municipal tender awarded during the Covid-19 national state of disaster.
Those criminal proceedings are separate from the municipal disciplinary dispute, and the allegations against her have not been determined by the disciplinary process that was terminated.
Eastern Cape Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Zolile Williams had earlier taken the position that Nqwazi’s continued suspension was unlawful because disciplinary proceedings had not been completed within the prescribed period.
The municipality nevertheless continued to treat her as suspended.
Parties trade blame over collapsed meeting
The failure to convene the council prompted competing accusations among parties.
DA caucus leader Rano Kayser alleged that the ANC had made a political decision not to attend the meeting.
Daily Maverick reported that two unnamed ANC sources said the issue had been discussed at a divided regional working committee meeting, where members disagreed over whether Nqwazi should return.
An ANC councillor challenged Kayser’s characterisation during the council proceedings.
GOOD councillor Lawrence Troon separately accused both the ANC and DA of contributing to the collapse of the meeting.
Those claims remain political allegations rather than established findings about why individual councillors were absent.
Johnson confirmed only that apologies had been received from several parties and that the chamber lacked the quorum required to proceed.
Incoming council inherits dispute
The decision to place the council in recess means the current council is unlikely to resolve Nqwazi’s status before voters go to the polls on 4 November.
The incoming council will consequently inherit a dispute involving the metro’s top administrative position, the status of the previous disciplinary process and the question of whether a fresh process should be instituted.
That makes the administrative standoff part of the governance landscape facing parties contesting control of Nelson Mandela Bay.
The metro has experienced repeated political and administrative instability, while the position of city manager carries responsibility for implementing council decisions and overseeing the municipal administration.
The immediate political contest now shifts to the election, with the future council expected to confront the unresolved city-manager dispute once it is constituted.
