The Democratic Alliance (DA) shadow Finance Minister, Geordin Hill-Lewis is the party’s nomination for mayor of Cape Town, to replace current incumbent, Dan Plato. DA leader, John Steenhuisen announced the mayoral candidates for the five major cities in the country on Monday.
Steenhuizen announced candidates for Ekurhuleni, Tshwane, Johannesburg, Nelson Mandela Bay and Cape Town. Steenhuizen says the team of candidate mayors he has announced will get the cities working for its citizens.
“We’ve got the track record we’ve got a promise of more we look forward to convincing you, if you wanna change South Africa, to change your life, if you wanna build a better future for your family and selves, if you want hope, there’s a party that you can trust and that party is a democratic alliance.” DA leader, John Steenhuizen.
The DA has been the party of choice in the city of Cape Town since 2006, although without the majority. To be followed by majority wins in subsequent elections from 2012. But, it has not been without controversy in the run-up to the 2016 elections revolving around its mayor Patricia de Lille, who eventually left to form her own political party. Current mayor, Dan Plato was brought in as a stand-in, who now has lost out to Hill-Lewis. Hill-Lewis says he has big shoes to fill.
VIDEO: LGE 2021 – DA to announce mayoral candidates for the upcoming local government elections
Other candidates include Geordin Hill-Lewis for the City of Cape Town, Randall Williams for the City of Tshwane, Mpho Phalatse for Johannesburg and Refiloe Nt’sekhe for the Ekurhuleni metro.
According to Steenhuisen, the candidates will be on the ground selling the ideologies of the party and their message of hope.
Hill-Lewis replaces current incumbent, Dan Plato. In his acceptance speech, the 35-year-old Hill-Lewis has promised improved service delivery.
“To all the people of Cape Town with your support and as your Mayor, I will work day and night to bring better delivery to every citizen of our city no matter where you live in our great city, every Capetonian must live in a place that is safe, clean with access to the services they need for dignity,” says Hill-Lewis.
The DA says it’s ready for the 27 October elections. They have opposed the IEC application at the Constitutional Court to have the local government election pushed back to February next year, saying it’s in breach of the Constitution.
Nqaba Bhanga has been announced as the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) mayoral candidate for the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro.
Video: Nqaba Bhanga on being DA’s mayoral candidate
#DAmayors pic.twitter.com/acB931QDZm
— Elmarie Linde (@CllrLinde) August 23, 2021
Candidate lists
Political parties and independent candidates intending to contest the Local Government Elections have until 9pm on Monday evening to submit their nominations and prescribed election deposits to the Electoral Commission (IEC). This is in terms of the timetable for the October 27 elections.
Only registered parties may contest elections. 480 parties are currently registered in the country.
Electoral Commission CEO Sy Mamabolo anticipates a busy day.
“We have 26 000 candidates captured already. We have 97 parties that have already captured their details and we have 353 independent candidates that have submitted their details. Our expectation is that we are looking at about 60 -70 thousand candidates in total. So we anticipate a nomination activity giving us a total of between 60 000 to 70 000 by the end of the day today.”
In the video below, Mamabolo discusses candidates lists:
IEC says holding elections in October presents serious legal, political risks
Lawyers for the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) say it is not possible to have free, fair and safe elections by November 1 this year.
Lawyer for the Electoral Commission Wim Trengove told the Constitutional Court that there are serious legal and political risks presented by holding the Local Government Elections in October.
Local Government Elections | Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi discusses IEC’s Constitutional Court bid
The IEC insists that a free, fair and safe election is impossible this year and should be postponed to February 2022.
The IEC has also argued that holding the elections this year will privilege well-resourced parties like the Democratic Alliance (DA) which can continue campaigning electronically, thus rending the polls unfair.
“The elections will be vulnerable to being overturned and in fact, if the elections are not free and fair, they are unconstitutional and must be overturned. But the consequences would not be limited to the legal, they would also have social and political consequences. If the elections are not free and fair, then they would not have credibility. Society would not respect the outcome,” says Trengove.
