How to Steal a City by Crispian Olver

Author:Crispian Olver
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Non-fiction, Nelson Mandela Bay, How to Steal a City, Crispian Olver, Chippy Olver, Jonathan Ball Publishers, Jonathan Ball, Inside account, ANC, corruption, state capture, Pravin Gordhan, Danny Jordaan
ISBN: 9781868428212
Publisher: Jonathan Ball Publishers
Published: 2017-09-27T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Hunger Games

On a Sunday evening in early October 2015, I was sitting in an alcove at the Emperor’s Palace, a casino resort next to OR Tambo International Airport. The occasion was a meeting of municipal managers from around the country. With City Manager Mpilo Mbambisa on his way out, I was due to meet a prospective replacement. Appointing Mpilo’s successor was a crucial decision – the City Manager was central to the turnaround in Nelson Mandela Bay – and we had to get it right.

A giant walked towards me from the other side of the room. He reminded me of Jonah Lomu, the All Blacks wing and the nemesis of many South African rugby teams. Although Johann Mettler was 20 minutes late for our meeting, his warm greeting and firm handshake quickly banished any irritation I felt.

Johann was a highly competent municipal manager, who had run the Western Cape’s Drakenstein Municipality with great efficiency for the last four years. He was no stranger to municipal turnarounds, which had earned him the moniker of ‘Mr Fix-it’, and I hoped he might be ready for a new challenge.

‘So, what are you getting me into?’ asked Johann without wasting any time.

I didn’t sugar-coat the PE story and described the battle for the metro as only partly won. ‘The worst part about it’, I said to Johann, ‘is that the security agencies who are meant to be assisting us are doing nothing.’

This didn’t surprise him. Johann reminded me about the time he had been sent to fix the bankrupt Msunduzi Municipality, in KwaZulu-Natal, where the law enforcement agencies meant to investigate corruption had themselves been infiltrated. In spite of this, Msunduzi had been one of the few successful municipal turnarounds, and I had worked with Johann to document and write up the case study. The problems we were grappling with in Nelson Mandela Bay didn’t seem to faze him. I was impressed by his resolve, as well as by his familiarity with the terrain.

‘So, when can you start?’ I asked.

—————

My meeting with Johann was the result of many weeks of discussion. Danny had been reluctant to get involved in finding a new City Manager to replace Mpilo.1 The metro administration was drifting, rudderless, and the leadership vacuum we had created by suspending and firing staff needed to be filled quickly. We needed a fresh team, and for two months I pushed the idea of parachuting in an interim management team to take charge of the municipality. Danny and the rest of the Troika liked the idea, and we had discussed possible names. Deputy Mayor Bicks Ndoni favoured a competent woman who had previously worked in the municipality and had developed a bit of a name as a turnaround specialist. Maria Hermans and I favoured another strong woman from the Eastern Cape who was acting as the Administrator in Grahamstown. Yet Danny was reluctant to take the initiative.

Part of what worried him was the way leaks had already poisoned the public debate. Back in

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.