The appointment of city managers has typically attracted controversy. The case of Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB) is used to highlight significant flaws present in the appointment processes of city managers. The flaws in the appointment process have also heightened the precarity of coalitions, the theme of MISTRA’s publication, Marriages of Inconvenience: The politics of coalitions in South Africa. The paper explores city appointment procedures and processes, returning to policy proposals first made over ten years ago in the National Development plan (NDP).

The discussion will also draw on perspectives from Anthony Moonsamy, Chief Director of Gauteng COGTA: Local Government and Support (tbc), Susan Bannister, Director and co-founder of City Insight Development Consultancy and former member of the National Planning Commission and Prof Busani Ngcaweni, Principal of the National School of Government.