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DA mayor elected after Nelson Mandela Bay metro coalition takeover

The DA's Retief Odendaal was elected as the new executive mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay in the early hours of Thursday.
The DA's Retief Odendaal was elected as the new executive mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay in the early hours of Thursday.
Image: DA via Twitter

The DA's Retief Odendaal has been elected as the new mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay after the ANC's Eugene Johnson was voted out on Wednesday.

In July, seven opposition parties struck a deal to form a coalition in the metro and resolved to table a motion of no confidence against the incumbents. They are the DA, ACDP, African Independent Congress, Abantu Integrity Movement, FF Plus, PAC and UDM.

"This multiparty coalition seeks to restore stability, root out corruption and improve service delivery," the parties said in a joint statement at the time.

"There is no denying the terrible state of the metro and the urgent need for a change in government to improve basic service delivery for the residents. The current water crisis and the poor leadership surrounding the crisis have been a persistent threat to the people of Nelson Mandela Bay who still face the imminent possibility of dry taps across almost half of the metro."

Looking towards the 2024 general elections, the parties said: "Coalitions are never easy. It is certainly important for all of us to learn the lessons from past attempts so we can apply better measures for future coalitions."

Odendaal, an attorney, served as a Mandela Bay councillor from 2009. Between 2016 and 2018 he was the MMC for budget and treasury until the ANC returned to govern the metro. He returned to the city this year after a stint as a member of the Eastern Cape legislature.

TimesLIVE

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