Cape Town mayor to be elected next month

A new Cape Town mayor will be elected by the end of September, the Democratic Alliance said on Saturday.

“The FedEx has discussed the process of electing a new Cape Town mayor. The process will be finalised by the end of September so that we can ensure a proper handover,” the party’s spokesperson Solly Malatsi in a statement.

The statement was issued following a meeting of the party’s federal executive which took place earlier this weekend.

Recently, embattled Cape Town Mayor Patrica De Lille, along with DA party leader, Mmusi Maimane announced her resignation, effective from October 31.

Read more here

On Saturday, the party also said that Cape Town officials had ensured that the city “has become an example of global best practice on how to beat unprecedented drought conditions”.

It also congratulated its administrations in Johannesburg and Tshwane for making “great strides in restoring financial stability.”

It dismissed unrest in Nelson Mandela Bay over mayor Athol Trollip as “political gimmicks”.

Read more here: Trollip survives as opposition walk out over late agendas

The Democratic Alliance also made pronouncements on several other issues on the national and Southern African agenda.

The party reiterated it would oppose any attempt at constitutional amendments in terms of land reforms.

It also said that at this point, it seemed clear that the current ANC policy of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment “has failed”.

It suggested new models needed to be implemented that ensured it benefited a wider variety of black South African currently not benefitting.

In terms of Zimbabwe’s recent elections, it said that these experiences offered “valuable lessons to South Africa that we ignore at our peril”.

“The admission by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) that it made an error in tallying the votes for the Presidential election brings into question the validity of the entire election and the legitimacy of those who were declared as winners.”

“This is why the work of a strong opposition in a multi-party democracy can never be under-estimated,” commented Malatsi.

Also read: 'I was elected cleanly,' Zim President Mnangagwa tells SADC summit