Johannesburg - The Democratic Alliance's Michael Holenstein was elected mayor of Mogale City in the West Rand on Wednesday, following the resignation last week of Lynn Pannall due to ill health.
"The new executive mayor expressed that he was humbled and honoured, and thanked Councillor Lynn Pannall [DA] for progress she had made in the past months, and said he will use the work she had started as foundation to enable Mogale City to reach frontiers it was yet to see," the municipality said on Wednesday.
Holenstein retained the mayoral committee that was established by Pannall.
He beat the African National Congress' (ANC) Patrick Naga Lipudi. Holenstein received 39 votes against 38 votes for Lipudi.
Pannall was elected mayor on a combined vote from the DA, EFF, Freedom Front Plus (FF+) and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) after the August local government elections.
She also beat ANC candidate Peace Mabe by a single vote.
The DA cited prolonged ill health as Pannall's reason for leaving the municipality after serving just over 100 days in office.