We can build a Capital City that works for all its people

Dear Editor

The DA in Gauteng is proud to announce that Cilliers Brink, our national spokesperson and regional chairperson in Gauteng North, has been selected as the DA candidate for the position of Executive Mayor of Tshwane. His candidacy has also been endorsed by the multi-party coalition government. We hope to have him elected at the first available opportunity.

The new mayor of Tshwane faces a daunting task. The combination of lockdown, the period of unlawful ANC administration, poor financial decisions, and prolonged stage 6 load-shedding has had a devastating impact on Tshwane’s finances. The multi-party coalition is under constant attack by the ANC and the EFF, and sustained effort is needed to hold the parties in this coalition together.

But we are confident that Cilliers can do the job, and do it with distinction.

A law graduate of the University of Pretoria, he has spent most of his political career either in, or dedicated to, local government. He was first elected a councillor in Tshwane in 2011, and served as member of the mayoral committee for Corporate and Shared Services from 2016 to 2019. In addition to his role as national spokesperson, he has served in the portfolio committee of cooperative governance and traditional affairs (CoGTA) since his election to Parliament in 2019.

As DA Shadow Minister of CoGTA, Cilliers has established himself as an expert on local government. He understands the laws and regulations that have bearing on municipal finances, and the importance of making a success of the one multi-party coalition in Gauteng that enjoys a majority in the municipal council. He is a resident of Tshwane, the place he and his wife have chosen to raise their children. Most importantly, he cares deeply about build a Capital City that works for all its people.

I have known Cilliers for many years. He was a key member of my team after I was elected Executive Mayor of Tshwane in 2016. Following 16 years of ANC misrule in Tshwane, Cilliers spearheaded the fight against irregular contracts entered into under Tshwane’s last ANC mayor. This included the financially ruinous Peu smart meter contract, the Moipone fleet contract, and a number of other contracts flagged as irregular by the AG and had nearly destroyed Tshwane’s service delivery capacity.

We worked together to replenish Tshwane’s fleet of service delivery vehicles that had either disappeared or been run into the ground under successive ANC governments. We also ended the system of insiders and outsiders by which ANC ward councillors appointed EPWP beneficiaries, replacing this with a fair and transparent selection process that benefitted more of the city’s work seekers.

As a Tshwane resident myself, a proud son of Atteridgeville, I have complete faith in Cilliers as an advocate for the key tenants of the DA’s offer, and the manifesto of the multi-party coalition in Tshwane. He fights for non-racialism, the rule of law, a capable state, and a social market economy that lifts people out of poverty. He believes, as do I, that these values unite ordinary South African across divisions of race, place, and class.

Sterkte, Cilliers. We know that you can keep the DA’s promise, and build a Capital City that works for all its people.

Regards

Solly Msimanga
DA Gauteng Provincial Leader