The deputy mayor nominations were the AUF’s Mavis Busakwe and the ANC’s Nokuthula Seti. Busakwe received seven votes while Seti received six, making Busakwe the new Bitou deputy mayor.
Newly elected mayor Dave Swart receives his mayoral chain.
Bitou officially has a new mayor and speaker, elected this morning during its first council meeting since the recent local government elections.
The DA’s Dave Swart was elected as mayor while the Plett Democratic Congress (PDC)’s Claude Terblanche is the new speaker.
The election left Bitou Municipality as a hung council with the DA winning five out of the 13 available council seats, the ANC four and the Ikhwezi Political Movement (IPM), Patriotic Alliance (PA), PDC and Active United Front (AUF) each securing one. As no party had an outright majority, coalitions needed to be cemented.
Yesterday, Wednesday 17 November, an agreement was reached between the DA, the PDC and the IPM. Earlier, the DA was reluctant to enter into an agreement with some of the parties, as demands included the position of mayor and speaker.
However, in a statement yesterday, the DA said that during discussions “much common ground” was found and it was established that values aligned between the three parties, enabling a coalition agreement to be reached.
During this morning’s council meeting, Terblanche and the PA’s Michelle Botha were nominated for the position of speaker. Terblanche won out with seven votes against Botha’s six.
For the position of mayor, Swart and the IPM’s Nokuzola Kolwapi were nominated. Swart received seven votes to Kolwapi’s six.
The deputy mayor nominations were the AUF’s Mavis Busakwe and the ANC’s Nokuthula Seti. Busakwe received seven votes while Seti received six, making Busakwe the new Bitou deputy mayor.
For the position of council whip, the DA’s Bill Nel and the ANC’s Sandiso Gcabayi were nominated. Nel was elected with seven out of the 13 votes.
Read more in next week’s Knysna-Plett Herald and online.
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