Pretoria - Change has come to Tshwane - so declared new Tshwane executive mayor Solly Msimanga moments after he was elected the city’s first citizen unopposed at the inaugural sitting of the fourth term of council on Friday afternoon.
Msimanga was nominated by fellow DA councillor Marietha Aucamp after another party member, Katlego Rachel Mathebe, was elected unopposed as the new speaker of council.
Mathebe, a former Cope councillor, immediately presided over the process to elect the new mayor and later chief whip of council. The position went to the DA’s Christo van der Heever, who was also unopposed.
As mayor, Msimanga will be entitled to benefits such as accommodation, an official vehicle and a high-level protection service, among others.
And Msimanga, who didn't get a mayoral chain, wasted no time in highlighting some of the sweeping changes that would be introduced in the capital city under DA rule and his watch over the next five years.
While social media on online news platforms were abuzz with the news that the chain was stolen, the city indicated there had never been a mayoral chain in the first place.
The newly-elected mayor said the city would ban blue-light brigades within the metropolitan area and expected even President Jacob Zuma to abide by this law once it has been implemented.
“When Zuma comes to the city, we will make sure there are no blue lights anymore,” Msimanga said in the Sammy Marks council chamber in the heart of the city.
Under his political captaincy, Msimanga pledged to provide services to all people in Tshwane irrespective of their political affiliation.
“We will deliver to your people because they are our people,” he said, seemingly directing his comment at the ANC councillors, now occupying the official opposition benches after coming second in the August 3 polls.
No one would be appointed into a position because he or she belonged to a particular party, he said. He warned that there would be no more instant millionaires created out of tender systems.
“People of Hammanskraal can look forward to receiving water, sewerage systems and jobs. More jobs will also be created in Mamelodi, Babelegi and Silverton. No more will our people suffer at the hands of the ANC,” he said.
Msimanga warned people who had any intentions of making the city ungovernable. “We are saying to you that we are watching you,” he said.
To those who have been waiting for title deeds, he promised to deliver them in no time.
He said gone were the days when city officials would get to their offices and sleep.
He also had a word for ANC councillors who had heckled and booed him during the delivery of his speech.
Msimanga appealed to them not to be bad losers. “This is why you came number two in the election. Humble yourself,” he told them.
He said people of Tshwane had decided which direction they wanted their city to go.
Mathebe, meanwhile, threatened to remove ANC members who continued to interrupt Msimanga as he was speaking.
The speaker, however, never executed her threat and said she wanted all councillors to hear what the new mayor had to say. The councillors had been sworn in earlier in the proceedings.
ANC councillor and regional deputy chairman Mapiti Matsena told Msimanga that he knew he didn’t win the election, because the DA only had 39 councillors while the ANC got 69.
He made an instant demand that people in Phomolong be relocated to the Waterkloof area east of the city.
EFF councillor Benjamin Disolwane told the DA to make sure that in Tshwane there were no racists and white supremacy. “We support you, but we are not part of you,” he told the mayor.
Disolwane said the EFF was tired of seeing the ANC dispatching the Red Ants security to evict poor people and dismantle their shacks.
“We are going to teach the ANC how to become the opposition, so please behave yourself. You (the speaker) are not going to become Baleka Mbete,” he said, referring to the Speaker of Parliament.
Mathebe, after being elected earlier in the day, said: “Together we will run our meetings effectively and efficiently, always bearing in mind our responsibilities to accelerate service delivery.”
Serious council business will start on August 31 at the next council sitting.
Pretoria News Weekend