Tshwane by-elections set for May to fill vacant councillor positions
About five wards in the region are set to get new councillors ahead of the local government elections.
Tshwane residents are expected to head to the voting polls in May for by-elections of new councillors ahead of the local government elections.
About five wards in the region have been confirmed by the electoral commission to participate in the by-elections scheduled for 19 May.
DA member of Gauteng legislature Crezane Bosch said the by-elections in the regions were expected to be the last ahead of the local government elections scheduled for between 4 August and 1 November.
Residents of ward 44 in the east of Pretoria will be among those to get a new councillor in the region as former DA ward councillor Ernst Botha’s resignation came into effect as of 28 February.
Botha was on leave from December 2020 and travelled to New Zealand due to family commitments.
He tendered his resignation in early February while Tshwane ANC opened a case of fraud and corruption against Botha for “wrongful payments received without doing their work”.
DA council chief whip Christo van den Heever has been nominated to contest for Botha’s position.
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This was announced by Bosch following the party’s regional meeting on Wednesday, selecting a candidate for the vacant position.
Bosch said the party had confidence in Van den Heever as he was also the PR councillor and stand-in councillor in the ward for the past month.
“We have full confidence that he is already a well-experienced councillor and would be able to tackle issues in the ward and hit the ground running to serve residents.”
Van den Heever said he availed himself as a candidate as he was familiar with the issues of the ward.
“I will ensure that service delivery in the ward will continue and address issues such as water complaints, power outages and the cutting of grass.”
He said he would also use his position at the DA council whip to raise the challenges of the residents.
Van den Heever said the residents were faced with safety issues and billing problems.
“I picked up billing issues over the past few weeks and we were able to attend to those.”
Ward 3, 58, 88 and 92 were also set to get new councillors by May.
Electoral commission spokesperson Kate Bapela said the by-elections were allowed to take place under lockdown level 1 and would adhere to Covid-19 regulations.
The commission has urged residents to wear masks and adhere to social distancing when heading to the polls.
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