Cape Town - At least three changes are being made to the lists of political parties represented in the city council, following this month's local government elections.
At its inaugural meeting last week, at least three seats in the chamber were vacant because political parties had decided to make changes to the candidate lists submitted to the IEC prior to the polls.
The names of elected candidates were published in the Government Gazette last week, paving the way for the city manager to be notified of amendments.
Achmat Ebrahim confirmed he had received notification to replace three councillors on the lists - one each from the DA, ACDP and the Freedom Front Plus.
With a political career dating back to 1962, Andre Fourie, the FF Plus' sole representative in the city council since 2009, will be retiring.
He will be replaced by Erika Botha-Rossouw, the Western Cape regional organiser of humanitarian group Helping Hand, which works on projects to help alleviate poverty among Afrikaans people.
Fourie, 72, said he had wanted to retire a year ago, but agreed to stand for re-election out of loyalty to the party. During his time as a councillor, Fourie was particularly outspoken about the burden of the Cape Town Stadium on ratepayers.
The ACDP also notified Ebrahim that its mayoral candidate, Ferlon Christians, would not be taking up his seat in the council. Christians, an MPL, topped the ACDP's list. He will make way for long-standing city councillor Demi Dudley, who was fourth on the party's list after Grant Haskin and Charlotte Williams.
The DA had also advised the city manager that Charl Marais, who appeared at number 38 on the party's proportional representative list, had resigned.
Ebrahim said in all cases brought to his office since the election, the IEC had been notified of the changes. Political parties have 21 days after the declaration of an election in which to make changes to its proportional representative lists. The IEC has 14 days to process these amendments.
The council will meet next week for its first ordinary meeting to approve the annual adjustments budget.
Cape Argus