TOM EATON: The mayor who represents the one percent - literally, not figuratively
'The ANC would probably tell you that he is the symbolic figurehead of a valiant, revolutionary ANC-led coalition taking back the city from threats like accountability and fiscal discipline'
EXTRACT
What he is, of course, is the public servant who was recorded demanding that his city should stop delivering services to certain residents.
Most versions of the story led with Bobani’s promise, made to a town hall meeting last week, that 100% of the city’s budget would go to township residents.
Given the old-timey pork-barrel politics going down in Nelson Mandela Bay, it was a pretty austere offer: it must have taken great restraint not to promise 500% of the budget.
Still, one has to say that 100% seems a tad overambitious and not a little bit self-defeating.
If you’ve ever wondered why the United Democratic Movement only got 1% in the last general election, look no further than Nelson Mandela Bay and Mongameli Bobani. According to the UDM, Bobani is the mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay. The Democratic Alliance insists he is an interloping hot-water-bottle merely warming Athol Trollip’s seat. The ANC would probably tell you that he is the symbolic figurehead of a valiant, revolutionary ANC-led coalition taking back the city from threats like accountability and fiscal discipline. I’m not sure what the EFF would tell you, since their position on everything shifts almost hourly depending on which pamphlet the Great Leader has read on the loo that morning, but they’d no doubt yell something about being kingmakers before trumpeting that Bobani was a straight-razor against the throat of whiteness. What he is, of course, is the public servant who was recorded demanding that his city should stop delivering services to certain residents. Most versions...
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