Joint Media Release by Western Cape Government on the 2021 Local Government Elections
With nearly 100% of the votes reported in the Western Cape, the Premier of the Western Cape, Alan Winde, and the Provincial Minister responsible for Local Government, Anton Bredell, congratulate candidates for municipal councils across the province on their election and welcome the peaceful process in the province.
Premier Alan Winde, said: “While we wait for the final votes to be declared in the province, we want to commend each candidate for helping ensure a peaceful election in the Western Cape, and we congratulate you on your election. For those who were unsuccessful, thank you for being part of this important democratic process and ensuring that we continue to have a vibrant constitutional democracy.”
Minister Anton Bredell explained that the Western Cape’s Department of Local Government is ready and willing to assist all councils with the processes that will now follow: “Senior departmental officials are being deployed to each council to support municipal managers in their duties. Municipal Managers will be presiding over the initial election processes to elect new council Speakers. Once that has been done, the Speakers will lead the process.”
The province has 30 municipal councils which now have to be formally constituted and elect representatives. Local councils have fourteen calendar days from the day which the election is declared to do so, following which district councils have a further fourteen calendar days to do the same. Minister Bredell has noted that there are sixteen councils in the province where no party received a majority, also known as a hung council.
Minister Bredell added: “We urge all parties to come together and finalise their council representatives including Speakers and Mayors and we wish the newly elected councillors and future leaders all the very best for the five years that lie ahead. They can count on my support and my door is open to any councillor or municipal representative who needs support or advice.”
During its first Council meeting, all Municipalities will take a number of important decisions, including, the election of its office bearers including the Speaker and Executive Mayor.
“The members of the Mayoral Committees, who will assist the Executive Mayor in his/her duties will also be announced at the first Council meeting. The Department of Local Government has established a Help Desk Facility to assist with any advice or legal concerns and will continue to provide ongoing support to all Municipal councils throughout this transitional process”, explained Minister Bredell.
Going forward, the Western Cape Government’s Provincial Cabinet will also be engaging with our newly appointed Executive and District Mayors in the upcoming MayCab meeting, which is expected to take place on 22 November, and which will be the first formal engagement between Provincial Government, the Metro and Municipalities.
Premier Alan Winde said: “I look forward to meeting with the newly elected Mayors across the province. It is important that we all work together to ensure that we deliver the jobs, basic services, safety, and well-being that every single person in our province deserves. The next five years must be about quality, corruption-free service delivery to our communities so that we keep on moving the Western Cape forward.”
Premier Winde concluded: “I also want to sincerely thank voters, the many IEC officials, SAPS officers, independent observers and party agents who played an important part in this democratic election.”
Source: Government of South Africa