The new executive mayor of Tshwane, Cilliers Brink, announced on Friday his team of mayoral committee members who will straighten out the metro after a turbulent few weeks.
Brink says the multi-party coalition succeeded in appointing ten mayoral committee members in “a matter of days”. Some of these committee members held the same office in the past.
“The fact that the multi-party coalition was able to work together so quickly demonstrates our urgency and commitment to fixing the challenges Tshwane is facing,” he said during the announcement.
Tshwane’s new mayoral committee members are:
- Kingsley Wakelin (DA) – mayoral committee member for corporate and shared services;
- Hannes Coetzee (ActionSA) – mayoral committee member for economic development and spatial planning;
- Themba Fosi (DA) – mayoral committee member for infrastructure and regional operations;
- Ziyanda Zwane (IFP) – mayoral committee member for environment and agriculture;
- Peter Sutton (DA) – mayoral committee member for finance;
- Katlego Mathebe (DA) – mayoral committee member for roads and transport;
- Grandi Theunissen (FF Plus) – mayoral committee member for community safety;
- Peggy de Bruin (ActionSA) – mayoral committee member for social development;
- Ofentse Madzebatela (DA) – mayoral committee member for human settlements; and
- Rina Marx (FF Plus) – mayoral committee member for health.
“This is a strong team of individuals who are ethical and ready to serve the people of the Tshwane metro,” said Brink.
On Friday morning after the announcement, the committee members already stepped in to work on the metro’s adjustment budget and the adjusted service delivery and budget implementation plan. The committee members are expected to work on this next week as well after the Gauteng treasury approves the metro delay gave
The city has fallen into disarray in recent weeks after Randall Williams resigned as mayor in February. His successor, Dr. Murunwa Makwarela from Cope, was dismissed as a board member soon after as he was declared insolvent in 2016.
Brink was announced as the metro’s new mayor on Tuesday and undertook to build a capital that works.
Brink’s plan for Tshwane
On Friday, Brink briefly outlined his five main priorities to ensure service delivery in Tshwane.
He undertook to straighten out the finances of the municipality and build up the financial controls that had been dismantled or never existed.
Brink wants to reduce the number of unplanned water and power outages by building up and maintaining the metro’s infrastructure. He also wants to ensure that the infrastructure is protected from criminals by fixing the Tshwane Metro Police.
Brink plans to improve basic services – such as repairs to potholes and street lights and even just keeping the municipality’s territory’s grass in check and the streets clean.
Finally, he wants to improve the productivity and professionalism of the city’s officials with the help of appropriate performance management systems.