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Nelson Mandela metro rubbishes 'fake and totally unacceptable' statement

Athol Trollip of the DA, Mongameli Bobani of the UDM. Picture: Fredlin Adriaan
Athol Trollip of the DA, Mongameli Bobani of the UDM. Picture: Fredlin Adriaan

The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality has rubbished a statement‚ attributed to Mayor Athol Trollip‚ which claims there was a breakdown in the relationship between him and his deputy Mongameli Bobani.

The statement – shared on social media and even distributed by ANC regional spokesman Gift Ngqondi – claims that the EFF has agreed to play a strategic role in the governance of the metro.

The statement‚ labelled a “fake” by Trollip’s spokesman Sibongile Dimbaza reads:

 “In the past days there has been misunderstanding between the executive mayor and deputy mayor.

“Unfortunately the differences played into the public domain and it is with heavy heart to announce that there is breakdown of relationship between the Executive Mayor and Deputy Mayor. This has created trust deficit and all attempts to repair the relationship has failed.

“It is upon this background‚ that the Executive Mayor of NMB metro and DA leader Mmusi Maimane had a meeting with EFF leader Julius Malema in Johannesburg on Friday the 24th March 2017.

“The meeting was fruitful and the leader of DA will pronounce the resolutions soon.

“I want to assure the residents of the metro that decisions taken are in their best interests and EFF will be key in strategic positions of governance of the metro.

“The DA leader and EFF leader will furthermore look at replicating the same model to be implemented in all metros where DA is governing through coalition government.”

Dimbaza said the statement was written by a “faceless individual” who plagiarised a statement he wrote months ago and added information to make it look legitimate.

“This is fake and totally unacceptable. Someone out there has a bad sense of humour‚” Dimbaza said.

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