Last month the Nelson Mandela Bay metropolitan council appointed the DA’s Nqaba Bhanga as its latest mayor in an office that has failed to find stability since 2016.

Back then, in a hotly contested election, no party managed to get a majority of more than 60 seats. The DA led with 57 followed by the ANC with 50 and the EFF with seven in a 120-strong council. The result of this stalemate was a coalition government that saw the DA collaborating with the EFF and other parties to install the DA’s Athol Trollip as mayor...