Xed out: The plan by the Democratic Alliance’s Cilliers Brink for the Tshwane metro election has backfired. Photo: Deon Raath/Gallo Images
The Democratic Alliance-led coalition emerged as the victor in the City of Tshwane mayoral election on Tuesday afternoon when its candidate, Cilliers Brink, came out on top.
Brink garnered 109 of the council votes against Congress of the People candidate Ofentse Moalusi, who received 102.
In his inaugural speech as the mayor, Brink thanked councillors for their confidence in him and said nothing that had happened in the three tumultuous weeks the metro has endured would take away the honour of serving the people of Tshwane.
Brink’s first attempt at becoming Tshwane mayor was thwarted in February by the ANC and the Economic Freedom Fighters, with some of the DA’s own councillors going rogue and voting for the opposition. Then the newly-elected mayor, Murunwa Makwarela, was found to be insolvent and ineligible to be a councillor.
Makwarela was deregistered by the Electoral Commission of South Africa but later produced a rehabilitation certificate, which led to his being reinstated. An investigation into the authenticity of the certificate found that it was fraudulent and Makwarela resigned as mayor.
With the Tshwane council again left without a mayor, the DA-led coalitions terminated the membership of the councillors found to have gone rogue, clearing the path for Brink’s election.
Speaking on the matter, Brink said he hoped the council had reached a turning point and that the people of Tshwane looked to the council to resolve differences in an orderly way.
“No matter how low debate has sunk in this council, it can never be acceptable for us to threaten each other with violence. If elected representatives behave in this way, it destroys the trust that we have with ordinary people, and the trust that ordinary people have in our democracy,” he said.
“Let us break this culture now. And so I extend a hand of cooperation to all of the political parties in this council. But especially the opposition who did not vote for me.
“There might be time for battle but there’s also time for deliberation, earnest debate for empathy and for cooperation. Each of us, no matter how politically warm blooded we are, must love our city and our country more than we dislike each other.”
He said the parties in the coalition might have differences of policy or personality, but what bound the council together was stronger than what set its members apart, Brink said, adding: “In that sense we are very much like the people of South Africa. The people of South Africa and our capital city have got more in common, shared interest, shared values, than what sets us apart.”
Brink said he was certain that Tshwane councillors wanted to build a capital city that works, with clean, effective corruption-free administration, secure continuous supply of basic services and value for the rates, tariffs and charges paid by residents.
“We want to build a capital city that works for all of its people, one that improves the lives of the poor that creates opportunities for people to move up in life. We know in our heart of hearts, that this city will only be a good place for any of us to live in, if it’s a good place for all of us to live in. A city that works and goes one way no one is left behind aren’t two separate cities,” he said.
Brink said Tshwane should avoid the fate of other municipalities that have stumbled, and that the council should regain control of the city’s finances and bring spending in line with what it could collect.
“This is an important task, as responding to the findings of the auditor general and building up the financial controls that have been broken down or that have never existed. In the past three years, the city has faced a combination of factors that has had a devastating impact on our finances, and on the financial recovery that we’ve embarked upon,” he said.
He said the city had to return to the mandate of local government and serve its constitutional mandate. This included reducing dependence on Eskom.
“If we don’t make these bold changes, if all of the municipalities outside of the Western Cape don’t make these bold changes, then we won’t be able to fulfil our constitutional obligations.”