No work, big pay: As local government elections approach, the issue of city manager Noxolo Nqwazi’s suspension will probably be used to score political points rather than solve service delivery failures in Nelson Mandela Bay. Photo: Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Facebook

Against the backdrop of damning findings by the Auditor-General (AG), the embattled Nelson Mandela Bay municipality is facing fresh scrutiny over its handling of suspended ANC-appointed city manager Noxolo Nqwazi, who has over the past 29 months drawn a cumulative salary of R5.8 million.

Experts warn that this year’s local government elections, which are expected to be fiercely contested, will test voters’ appraisal of municipal performance.

An analyst said the local government brand was under significant strain, with parties facing growing difficulty “to persuade voters who are consistently exposed to governance failures at the local level”.

The AG’s 2024–2026 findings highlighted billions lost to irregular expenditure, infrastructure and service delivery failures and contracts awarded through unjustified deviations, pointing to severe weaknesses in the municipality’s financial management.

Acknowledging the findings as a “clear regression”, the municipality said it was drafting an audit action plan to address the AG’s concerns.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), which led the fraud and corruption charges against Nqwazi who has been implicated in the municipality’s irregular toilet contract, said this week that it was appalled by the reckless, wasteful and fruitless expenditure. 

In June 2023, the party called for Nqwazi’s immediate resignation after the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) findings, which revealed that she had approved a R24.6 million contract for 2 000 toilets during the Covid-19 pandemic, under the guise of emergency procurement. Only 200 toilets were delivered.

“The SIU found that Nqwazi sat at the head of a corrupt patronage network, alleged to have utilised the proceeds of this irregular tender to control ANC and DA councillors through bribes in order to shield herself from accountability,” said EFF national spokesperson Sinawo Tambo.

The EFF plans to bring an urgent motion to the Nelson Mandela Bay municipal council to initiate and resolve disciplinary proceedings against Nqwazi and will not support any settlement because of her alleged defrauding of the municipality.

Requests for comment sent to executive mayor Babalwa Loboshe and her deputy, Gary van Niekerk, went unanswered. 

Nqwazi has drawn a full salary since 20 October 2023 while on suspension because of the municipality’s failure to institute timely disciplinary processes.

Local government expert Dr Harlan Cloete said the R5.8m spent on a suspended city manager was bound to provoke public outrage, particularly in a metro struggling with persistent service delivery failures. 

“The three-year length of time this matter has dragged on, only deepens that frustration.”

He added that while procedural and legal complexities existed, “local government has done a poor job of explaining why such cases take so long”.

Cloete said the Nqwazi saga pointed to weak consequence management.

“Too often, officials appear to benefit from political protection, while political principals themselves
avoid accountability, shielded by factional dynamics at regional and national level. 

“At its core, this reflects a deeper problem: political interference continues to undermine governance in local government at the expense of political oversight.”

He warned that the AG findings indicated systemic decline, not isolated failures: 

“Financial mismanagement, weak internal controls and governance instability are mutually reinforcing, creating a cycle that is difficult to reverse. 

“In Nelson Mandela Bay, political-administrative tension, frequent leadership turnover and capacity constraints have intensified the challenges. What emerges is not just poor performance but a gradual erosion of institutional integrity and institutional capability.”

Cloete added that the electorate faced a crisis of confidence.

“Parties forming part of the GNU [government of national unity] may face an additional challenge in differentiating themselves, as they risk being perceived as collectively implicated in governance shortcomings. 

“This blurring of political accountability complicates efforts to present credible alternatives to the electorate. There is also a noticeable rise in issue-based local political formations, often positioning themselves in opposition to centralised party control associated with structures such as Luthuli House or
Wale Street.” 

The trend, Cloete said, suggested a potential shift toward more localised, community-driven political mobilisation, which might translate into increased electoral support for smaller, locally grounded parties.

Policy analyst Dr Nkosikhulule Nyembezi cautioned against conflating Nqwazi’s suspension with broader service delivery failures. 

“A definitive ruling on the finalisation of the suspension is still a reasonable time away. 

“Whatever the outcome, a fixation on the suspension saga could be a dangerous distraction — delaying decisive action by the municipality’s leadership to rectify service delivery and good governance shortcomings. This, as political divisions and instability continue.

“The problem with this kind of fixation is that it contains an underlying suggestion that if the council finalises suspension, then all is well. It causes a loss of sight of the fact that if we are talking about flawed service delivery and good governance, we are already in a very grave situation to start with because the local government elections are nearing and elected leadership suffer from legitimacy-deficiency.”

Nyembezi said the Nqwazi saga would probably be used to score political points rather than solve the problems. 

“It should not require divisive political issues solely for there to be a political leadership obligation to step in or to take remedial and good governance action.”

Independent political analyst Daniel Silke said the South African voting public was “shifting quite dramatically from its liberation loyalty, which was a feature in the past 20 years, to a much more critical and demanding electorate when it comes to giving their vote and entrusting it with public representatives”.

“The local government position over the past decade or two, has shown that the gloss of liberation is not enough to keep voters loyal. 

“Today we are seeing voters maturing quite extensively in supporting parties that they believe will provide more efficient services and obviously be less corrupt in the process.”

He warned that continued corruption investigations would harm the ANC even in its Eastern Cape stronghold.

“These kinds of accusations will diminish the ANC vote across the board, affecting the ANC’s broader campaign. Levels of corruption in metros affect the ANC campaign nationally.”

Silke said the electorate was increasingly seeking cleaner governance. 

“But, whether parties are ethical can only be tested after a period of time. The ANC, being such a dominant party and having such broad-based control in so many metros, now sees itself under pressure across the length and breadth of South Africa. 

“Voters may tire of the ANC or may want to give another party a chance. But those parties are also going to have to administer cleanly, otherwise they’ll be thrown out of office.” 

It has taken 20 to 30 years for the glue of the ANC to “rapidly become unstuck”, Silke said.  “Voters are reacting quite clearly towards corrupt activities and malpractice.”

He added that voter fatigue was intensifying because of the degradation of cities and infrastructure.

“When there are potholes, tender fraud, glaring service delivery issues, these stare you in your face.”