Cape Town – In a historic moment on Tuesday, the Prince Albert municipality convened the first-ever DA-led council meeting in the Central Karoo since 1994.
The party’s Linda Jacquet was elected as executive mayor, Stoffel Botes as deputy executive mayor and Margy Jaftha as speaker.
The DA gained a majority after the crucial ward 4 by-election win two weeks ago. Former now Jaftha switched sides and secured the party’s win.
Jaftha resigned from Karoo Gemeenskap Party (KGP) earlier this year to join the DA and was promptly named a candidate to contest the ward.
Both the ANC and the PA did not contest the election to try and give the KGP’s leader, Goliat Lottering a better chance of winning but the party fell short with 48.4% of the total votes.
DA constituency head for Prince Albert, Sharna Fernandez, said: “Today, marks a turning point for Prince Albert municipality.
“Under the leadership of mayor Jacquet and the full council, citizens will experience good governance and zero tolerance for corruption.
“Change is coming to the Central Karoo.”
The party has already revealed that crime and service delivery will be their priority and that only competent people will be appointed to positions.
A permanent fire officer and other essential positions in the traffic department are expected to be filled in the coming weeks.