Pretoria – Mzwandile Masina has been elected as the new Mayor of the Ekurhuleni Metro Municipality.
Masina was nominated on Tuesday during the first inaugural council meeting to elect the new mayor, to succeed outgoing Mayor Mondli Gungubele.
The sitting follows the fifth Local Government Elections held earlier this month.
The African National Congress’ (ANC) Masina was challenged by the Democratic Alliance (DA) mayoral candidate Ghaleb Cachalia for the position.
Of the 109 seats, the ANC needed three seats, while DA, which has 77 seats needed 35 more seats to govern Ekurhuleni.
Out of the 224 ballots cast, Masina received 117 votes, while Cachalia received 106 votes. There was one spoilt ballot.
Earlier in the day, Patricia Khumalo was elected Speaker of the Council.
Masina assured the residents of Ekurhuleni that the municipality will speedily attend to the issues raised by residents during a door-to-door campaign which was held ahead of the elections.
During the campaign, jobs, housing, quality services, corruption and poverty alleviation were on top of the agenda.
In taking forward the agenda of improving the general living standards of Ekurhuleni residents, Masina said the municipality, together with the collective leadership both institutionally and organisationally, will continue to give critical attention to quality service delivery.
“We have to ensure that through our collective efforts, our communities will see marked improvement in their living standards and living conditions.
“In an effort to promote our rich heritage, we shall also be giving special attention to the renaming of our streets as in honour of our heroes and heroines,” said Masina.
He further recommitted the municipality to create more opportunities for the youth.
Meanwhile, ANC eThekwini Regional Chairperson, Zandile Gumede was sworn in as Mayor of eThekwini Metro Municipality on Tuesday.
Former ethics committee chairman, Lekgoa Mapena, was elected as Council Speaker, taking over from outgoing speaker Logie Naidoo.
The ANC has 126 councillors, followed by the DA with 61 in the metro municipality. The Inkatha Freedom Party has 10 councillors, whilst the Economic Freedom Front has eight. – SAnews.gov.za
