DA Councillor Retief Odendaal elected as new Executive Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay

Note to Editors: Please find attached a soundbite by Andrew Whitfield, MP.

The process of getting Nelson Mandela Bay working again is finally underway after the DA and its coalition partners removed the ANC from power.

Today, 22 September 2022, DA Cllr Retief Odendaal was elected as the new Executive Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay after the majority of opposition parties at a council sitting voted to save the residents of the metro from the corruption and mismanagement of the ANC.

The DA congratulates Mayor Odendaal on his election and we know the metro is now in safe hands.

Mayor Odendaal was first elected as a councillor in 2009 and served as the leader of the DA Caucus between 2014 and 2016.

Between 2016 and 2018 he served as the Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Budget and Treasury and was instrumental in turning the metro’s finances around.

During this time NMB went from being in the red to having a R2 billion surplus, receiving a AAA credit rating. The metro achieved some of the highest grant funding expenditure in the country for two consecutive years. Accordingly, National Treasury awarded the metro additional amounts of R178,8 million and R200 million.

Mayor Odendaal and the multi-party coalition will now set about putting the metro on the path of good governance.

We are united in our quest to ensure transparent governance, building the economy and the metro’s finances, creating jobs, delivering services and tackling the water crisis.

Nelson Mandela Bay can now be governed by a capable coalition government that will rebuild the municipality and set it on a new path towards a better future for all of the residents.

We will not be deterred from fixing the mess left by the previous government, and are committed to standing with the residents of this metro to get Nelson Mandela Bay working again!

Issued by Andrew Whitfield, DA EC Provincial Chairperson, 22 September 2022