/ 11 August 2016

De Lille, Smit re-elected as City of Cape Town gets down to business

Cape Town mayor Patricia De Lille.
Cape Town mayor Patricia De Lille.

The new City of Cape Town council got straight down to business with the re-election of Dirk Smit and Patricia de Lille to the position of speaker and mayor respectively on Thursday.

”I would like to thank you for the opportunity to serve as the Speaker in the City of Cape Town,” said Smit before carrying on with the business of election of the mayor.

He committed himself to serving the city and not a political agenda, adding that his door would be open for questions and advice, without any party bias.

De Lille was elected opposite ANC candidate Xolani Sotashe.

Smit was previously a Freedom Front Plus councillor, and later joined the Democratic Alliance.

He was installed in 2006 to bring stability during the tricky politicking that saw the African National Congress lose its grip on the council. That council was led by Helen Zille as mayor.

Special occasion
Smit had been up against Patrick Mngxunyeni of the ANC for the position of Speaker.

Before the vote, the ballot boxes were held high to prove that they were empty, and after the vote, some party representatives opted to stand next to the counters to make sure everything was above board.

Earlier, Economic Freedom Fighters councillor Andrew Arnolds, in the red overall the party usually wears in Parliament, made the party’s debut interjection by asking how many candidates could be nominated per party.

Arnolds said he was asking because the DA seemed to be not happy with its candidate.

This set off an uproar in the chamber, with DA councillors shouting ”We are happy!”, while Arnolds grinned.

In the inner circle of the council chamber sat EFF provincial secretary Melikhaya Xego, smartly dressed in a jacket and an Ivy cap for the party’s first time in Cape metro council politics.

Some of the new councillors brought proud parents and partners for the special occasion at the City of Cape Town’s Civic Centre and they waved and took pictures from the public gallery.

Also spotted in the public gallery were DA leader Mmusi Maimane, whose party scooped the majority in the council with 66.61% of the vote in last week’s municipal elections.

He was sitting next to Western Cape Premier Helen Zille and Tony Leon, both previous DA leaders.

Smit was voted Speaker with 157 votes, while Mngxunyeni drew 57 votes. Ten ballot papers were spoilt. –  News24