Africa-Press – South-Africa. DA MP Cilliers Brink is the party’s preferred candidate for Tshwane mayor.
News24 understands, from sources close to the coalition, that Brink was presented as the final candidate at a meeting the DA and its coalition partners held on Tuesday.
It is understood that DA leader John Steenhuisen presented Brink’s name.
Former mayor Randall Williams resigned last week, forcing the DA and its coalition partners to seek a replacement.
According to the coalition agreement, the DA holds the prerogative when it comes to the candidate who should be selected as mayor.
The party interviewed eight of its members for the role and Brink was chosen, News24 was told.
Brink currently serves as a member of Parliament and a spokesperson for the DA on cooperative governance and traditional affairs.
He served as a councillor in Tshwane before moving to Parliament in 2019.
He also served as a mayoral committee member in Tshwane between 2016 and 2018 when the DA governed the metro.
News24 understands that most of the DA’s coalition partners confirmed their willingness to support Brink but were stern on reservations about service delivery priorities.
Brink still needs to win most of the support from the Tshwane council before he can be elected.
It remains to be seen when a new mayor will be elected.
On Tuesday, Tshwane Speaker Murunwa Makwarela said a date for the election of a new mayor for Tshwane would be finalised soon.
Williams resigned on 13 February but changed it so that the resignation only becomes effective on 28 February.
The former mayor appointed the City’s now former MMC for Finance, Peter Sutton, to act as mayor while he remained on special leave for the remainder of his term.
Makwarela had initially accepted the changes to Williams’ resignation and cancelled a council meeting scheduled for last Thursday.
A dispute ensued because the EFF in Tshwane insisted that Williams’ first resignation letter of 13 February should be the only one accepted by the council.
The EFF stormed the Tshwane council offices last week, insisting that the mayoral committee appointed by Williams did not exist because his resignation immediately dissolved the political positions.
The party manhandled and attempted to remove mayoral committee members from the Tshwane office building.
The EFF’s insistence on the legal standing of Williams’ first resignation date held some water.
Makwarela confirmed that a legal opinion from a law firm appointed by the City manager confirmed that 13 February was Williams’ last day in office and the City had no political appointee.
Makwarela said:
Makwarela denied that he had “broken” the law by accepting Williams’ amended resignation date.
He said a new date for the appointment of a new speaker would be announced “soon” because stabilising the municipal government was necessary.
“The speaker will determine the date [on which] a new mayor can be elected,” he added.
Makwarela said municipal legislation only noted that a new mayor had to be elected as “soon as necessary”. He said he was consulting with party whips on the date.
Makwarela is a COPE member, and his party forms a coalition partnership with the DA, ActionSA, ACDP, FF-Plus and the IFP to govern in Tshwane.
Even though Makwarela needs clarification on when a council meeting will take place for the election of a mayor, News24 understands that the coalition partners want a meeting to be held by Friday.
The rush to elect a mayor stems from a need to urgently pass an adjustment budget for the City.
This needs to be finalised by the end of February because of municipal legislation.
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