Johannesburg - The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Sunday named Stevens Mokgalapa as its candidate for Tshwane mayor.
This comes after Solly Msimanga publicly announced that he would resign within the first two weeks in February to focus on his premiership election campaign for the DA in Gauteng.
He tendered his resignation to the Tshwane council on Thursday.
Mokgalapa in a statement said he accepted the nomination by the DA Gauteng and was honoured to named its candidate
"After extensive internal processes and interviews to find a suitable replacement for the position of Executive Mayor of the City of Tshwane, I am honoured to be the DA’s candidate to carry on the good work done by mayor Msimanga, should I be elected by council.
"I will carry on with the hard work of rebuilding the city and delivering on our manifesto commitments. My priority will be to carry on the DA’s positive vision to create an environment that allows job creation, deliver better services, and eliminate corruption."
He further said: "My main priority will be to continue the good work of stabilising the city administration in order to deliver better services to all residents. Much has been done in this regard, but much more is needed to reverse the rot we inherited in 2016".
Mokgalapa also vowed to address the ongoing issues relating to the city's big contracts, such as controversial R12 billion GladAfrica contract, which was found to be irregular, and the PEU smart meter contract.