DA MPL Retief Odendaal has accused Nelson Mandela Bay municipality’s leadership of presiding over a systemically failing city, highlighting collapsing service delivery, mounting financial problems and deteriorating infrastructure less than two months before the local government elections.
Odendaal, the mayoral candidate for his party, spoke at what the DA labelled the true state of the metro address on Wednesday.
This was ahead of mayor Babalwa Lobishe’s state of the metro address on Thursday.
“The true state of Nelson Mandela Bay is serious,” Odendaal said.
“But I am not here to tell you that our city is beyond repair. I am here to tell you that we can fix it.”
Odendaal said the metro was struggling to perform basic functions and residents deserved to know the truth.
His assessment was based largely on the municipality’s own financial and performance figures.
The metro received a qualified audit opinion for the 2024/2025 financial year, while irregular expenditure reached about R2.08bn.
Odendaal said he had been informed that the municipality was heading for another qualified opinion for the 2025/2026 financial year.
He contrasted this with the unqualified audit opinion achieved under the DA coalition government in 2022/2023, which he said remained the only unqualified audit in the past 14 years.
Odendaal said the municipality’s 71.6% revenue collection rate during the first half of 2025/2026 was below its 80% target, and the debtor payment period had reached 168 days by December 2025.
He linked the metro’s financial woes to its ability to deliver basic services, saying the municipality was now carrying one of the country’s largest accumulated unwanted-expenditure burdens.
“The recent attempt by the political leadership to force through the write-off of some R23bn highlights just how scared the current political leadership is that a new DA government will take over the reins in November,” he said.
Water was another major concern.
Odendaal pointed to non-revenue water losses of 60.39% during the first five months of 2025/2026.
“More than six out of every 10 litres entering the system are not generating revenue for the municipality,” he said.
He said there was a 64% vacancy rate among plumbers, engineers and artisans in water services, while the metro had an estimated 7,000 leaks in July.
The electricity network was similarly under pressure, he said, with an estimated 22,000 faulty streetlights and more than 1,100 low-voltage cable and overhead-line faults recorded in May.
Electricity losses were about R840.5m by November 2025, while audited information indicated losses of about R1.48bn for 2024/2025.
Odendaal said the metro’s broader performance was equally concerning.
Only 16.67% of basic service-delivery targets had been achieved during the first six months of 2025/2026, while overall performance against municipal targets stood at 34.15%.
“This is not a minor underperformance. It is a systemic failure,” he said.
He said the city also faced an estimated backlog of 25,000 potholes because there was no contract to purchase tar during the first six months of the year.
Odendaal said a DA government would focus on restoring financial discipline, improving water and electricity services, fixing infrastructure, tackling crime and creating conditions for investment and jobs.
During a media question-and-answer session, he said that if elected he would take direct political control of the metro’s finances.
He is a former budget and treasury political head and did the same two jobs in his last stint as mayor before handing it over.
“One of the first calls I will make is to the National Treasury to ask for the secondment of officials from the National Treasury to our supply chain,” Odendaal said.
He also questioned whether the municipality currently had sufficient skills within its supply chain department to respond to residents’ needs.
Odendaal identified the appointment of senior management as another immediate priority, saying all nine executive director positions had become vacant over the past three years.
He also referenced the prolonged suspension of city manager Noxolo Nqwazi.
“Because there is no top management in place, no decisions get taken, and there is absolute chaos.”
Asked how long it would take for residents to see a noticeable improvement in service delivery, Odendaal said the first signs could emerge within weeks or two months.
“It is all about politics.
“You should remove the blockages, not interfere in the administration, but make sure that they remove the blockages that exist for people to deliver on their mandate as officials,” Odendaal said.
With crime as well as public safety affecting businesses, locals as well as the tourism industry, he said that the Metro Police force needed to be substantially expanded.
On homelessness, Odendaal estimated that about 4,000 people were living on the streets.
He linked the problem to the metro’s housing shortage and what he described as a significant slowdown in housing delivery.
Odendaal said the metro needed to approach homelessness as a social crisis rather than simply removing homeless people from public spaces.
“We do not just want a situation where we are going to chase homeless people from this side because it is inconvenient for certain people to have them there.
“The municipality should work with social development, SAPS, clinical workers and shelters to support rehabilitation and reintegration programmes.
“There was also a push within the DA caucus for the metro to make a significant financial contribution towards a shelter or support existing shelters,” Odendaal said.
He accused the municipality of withholding, sanitising information and claimed councillors were also experiencing difficulties in obtaining responses from senior officials and promised to be a transparent government to locals and journalists alike.
Municipal spokesperson Sithembiso Soyaya said he could not respond to the questions as the executive directors responsible for the departments were at a council meeting on Wednesday, followed by the state of the metro address.
Soyaya indicated that a response might be provided on Friday.
Wednesday’s council meeting was moved to Thursday as no quorum was reached during the sitting.
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