Here are Tshwane’s mayoral hopefuls

Published Jul 26, 2016

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Pretoria - When the votes have been counted after the local government elections next week, one of these politicians will take the oath as the next executive mayor of Tshwane. Who will it be? Today, we present the mayoral candidates of some of the political parties gunning to govern the capital city, as compiled by Kennedy Mudzuli and Sakhile Ndlazi.

 

Accepted by ANC structures in the city

ANC: Angela Thokozile Didiza

The ruling party’s mayoral candidate was born on June 2, 1965, and is the most high-profile and experienced of all the hopefuls for the city’s highest office.

If Tshwane votes the way it did during the local government elections of 2011, Didiza will succeed Kgosientso Ramokgopa as mayor.

Didiza was minister of agriculture and land affairs from June 1999 to May 2006, barely 29 years old at the time.

Afterwards, she headed the Public Works Ministry until September 2008, resigning with 10 other ministers after the ANC recalled Thabo Mbeki from office.

Thereafter, she spent time with her husband Thami and her five children in their Pretoria home.

In 2012, Didiza was elected to the ANC national executive committee, and was among the top 20 candidates on the MPs list for the ANC in the 2014 general election. She was appointed House chairperson in the National Assembly.

Didiza was born in Durban and holds a BA Honours degree in politics as well as a diploma in journalism, among others.

She was selected to be part of the World Economic Forum’s Forum of Young Global Leaders in 2005, a community which includes the world’s most outstanding, next-generation leaders.

Didiza is a member of the ANC in Metsweding Zone.

While rowdy factions within the party went on a rampage following the announcement that she would be candidate, Didiza has been accepted by all ANC alliance structures in Tshwane.

 

DA torch bearer ready to take reins

DA: Solly Tshepiso Msimanga

The mayoral candidate of the city’s official opposition was born on July 16, 1980, and is a “100% Tshwane boy”. Since he was introduced to the public last year, he has managed to garner support in what the DA describes as its biggest election campaign ever.

The Atteridgeville-born Msimanga is upbeat about his chances of running Tshwane after the August 3 local government elections. He could be granted his wish if the votes go the way they did in the 2014 general elections, where the DA performed better than the ANC in Tshwane. In pre-election polls, Msimanga and the ANC's Didiza are neck and neck.

Msimanga said the DA’s support has been growing ‘phenomenally’ in the city's townships.

The MPL is also the DA Gauteng spokesman for sports and serves on the Education and Economic Development portfolio committees in the legislature.

He holds a national diploma in marketing management plus a BCompt degree from Tuks. He was previously a proportional representation councillor and caucus chairman in the Tshwane Metro Council and is party leader for the Gauteng North region. He has been a national director for Legal Education And Development (Lead) and has held several senior management positions in the private sector.

Msimanga is married with two sons and enjoys travelling, reading, music and cooking. He heads “Make Somebody’s Christmas a Merry One”, which donates groceries to poor families. It counts among his many charity projects.

  EFF mum on candidate for city

EFF national spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi

Who exactly is the mystery candidate the EFF intends unleashing on Tshwane if it wins the elections?

Well, the identity will remain a mystery, as the EFF has opted not to reveal its mayoral candidate for the capital city and other areas where it is contesting the elections.

“There are no mayoral candidates in the EFF,” national spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said.

The party would not pursue the same strategy as its opponents such as the ANC and DA.

Ndlozi said that his party would be contesting the elections with the aim of winning and it was targeting all metros.

“You will see when we outline our guidelines later; we don’t want the politics of personality cults or for individuals to think they are bigger than the organisation,” Ndlozi told the Pretoria News.

“We don’t want to invest in individuals; we invest in the organisation and what it has to offer to the people of South Africa.”

There has been speculation that EFF number two Floyd Shivambu was the Tshwane mayoral candidate and Ndlozi for Joburg, while commander-in-chief Julius Malema had his eyes on his Polokwane home turf.

But Ndlozi rubbished that claim. “Those speculations are absolutely misleading.

“We will decide after August 3 who will become what.”

The popular MP said the decision was not just about mayoral positions.

It wass also about entire cabinets, including MMCs.

 

Might FF+ man hold the balance?

FF+:Anton de Waal Alberts

He too fancies his chances - and rightfully so, as his party was the third largest in the city based on the 2011 municipal election results behind the ANC and DA.

Alberts was born in 1970. His prospects can be best summarised as follows: should the ANC fall below the 50% mark, which observers believe is very likely, then an opposition-based coalition government may be on the cards. Alberts could thus find himself in a very powerful and comfortable position, even if not necessarily as mayor.

But for now, the party has fielded him as the man to lead its battle in the elections. He said many were leaving the DA as their political home because its policies mirrored those of the ANC. Whether or not they were joining his party remains to be seen.

An advocate of the Supreme Court of Appeal, Alberts specialises in the legal fields of media and entertainment law, information and communications technology and space law.

He regularly acts as legal counsel to foreign firms investing in South Africa and those that are active in Canada, as well as several film and television production houses operating in South Africa, Canada and the US.

He was born in Joburg and moved to the capital in 2010.

He started off his career as a lecturer in criminal, corporate and international law at Technikon SA, now part of Unisa, and Rand Afrikaans University, today known as the University of Johannesburg.

 

Cope's Nkwane eyes a coalition

Cope: Nkwane wa’Nkwane

Cope had a troubled first term in the city council - it was often ridiculed by the sitting mayor, but always stood up to the ANC when few minority parties could do so.

Then the party lost one of its two councillors when Katlego Mathebe defected to the DA.

Tiyiselani Babane kept the Cope fires burning, but Nkwane has been named as the man to lead the party’s surge towards ruling the capital.

And he dreams big, promising to govern with the people, provide excellent service delivery and jobs, and have councillors who are accountable.

But to do that, Nkwane needs the numbers on August 3, something Cope struggled to get in previous polls. Like the Freedom Front Plus, his chances of playing a prominent role will be in coalition in the event that no party wins an outright majority.

Born on December 18, 1960, he is not quite a familiar face among city residents, but a force to be reckoned with and has been around Cope structures for a while. He said he was ready to govern and would gladly take the position as mayor of the capital.

Nkwane was third on the Cope regional Gauteng election list in the 2014 general elections.

He joined Cope in 2008 when it broke away from the ANC and became the party’s convener for Tshwane until 2010 before being appointed regional organiser in Tshwane until 2014. He is a Cope proportional representation councillor in the city council. He lives in Soshanguve and is married with three children.

Pretoria News

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