PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - Creating stability and enhancing service delivery in Bitou is the order of the day for the newly established council elected during a special council meeting yesterday, Tuesday May 23.

This, after more than a month of uncertainty following a decision by the Active United Front (AUF) to terminate its coalition with the ANC in Bitou on the heels of a series of issues between the two parties.

The AUF has in the meantime forged a new coalition with the DA based on a “pro-poor” approach to governing Bitou.

This coalition became official during the meeting held at the local council chambers on Tuesday where Bitou mayor Peter Lobese announced his new mayoral committee.

During the meeting ANC deputy mayor Euan Wildeman was replaced by DA councillor Jessica Kamkam and ANC speaker Phakie Mbali made way for DA councillor and former speaker Annelise Olivier.

New mayoral committee members Nomphumelelo Ndayi and Bill Nel – both from the DA – were elected replacing the ANC’s Sandiso Gcabayi and Monica Seyise.

The nominations were not opposed by the ANC and Bitou ANC sub-region chairman Howard Smith earlier said that the party had given instruction to councillors holding executive positions to vacate these positions to allow for a smooth transition.

Following their election Nel thanked the ANC councillors for their conduct during the meeting and reiterated the coalition’s commitment to “work together in serving the community of Bitou”.

Gcabayi replied that the ANC would always be advocating a stable and “caring government”. “We will always play our oversight role in keeping check on a clean anc corruption free government. As ANC we stand for clean governance and we will be working together, as our main objective is service delivery for the people of Bitou and to make sure there is smooth running of government, no hindrance. That is the belief of the ANC,” Gcabayi said.

During a media briefing following the council meeting mayoral spokesman Dumisani Mweba said that one of the main issues raised by officials and residents over the past month was concerns over service delivery coming to a halt as a result of the change in coalitions. “We just want to make it clear that this will not be the case. Service delivery is one of the council’s top priorities,” Mweba said.

He added that another concern was the possibility of “another divorce down the line”. “There are however structures in place for times when the parties can’t reach consensus over issues or if there is a disagreement of some kind. One of these structures is a managing committee aimed at minimising the possibilities of a future divorce,” Mweba said.

He added that council would be hitting the ground running, delivering on its promises to enhance and speed up service delivery, to create unity and stability and to grow the local economy.

“One of the first steps is the IDP for which the public has until June 30 to comment on. We are taking the IDP document back to the people for further comment as we don’t want this be formulated in a boardroom, but want to take our directives directly from the people.”