The Democratic Alliance looks set to take the Western Cape again following Monday’s local government elections.
That means the DA’s Geordin Hill-Lewis can now officially be referred to as the City of Cape Town’s mayor-elect.
The DA said its projections indicate that the party will win around 58.5% of the vote, which is 8.1% less than at the 2016 election, but still about 40% points ahead of closest rivals the ANC.
At age 34, Hill-Lewis would be Cape Town’s youngest mayor since 1994.
Up until now, he has been serving as the DA’s finance spokesperson, a post he held since June 2019.
Speaking to reporters at the provincial results and operations centre in Century City, Hill-Lewis said he was very excited about his new job as mayor, reports IOL.
“There are two weeks to go before the inauguration and the council gets started, so there’s time to do preparation and time to catch up on sleep.
“There’s time to really focus on our priorities but my overwhelming sense is just one of excitement...”
He said his first priority would be to reduce the City’s dependence on Eskom.
Meanwhile, the DA and ANC are gearing up for coalition talks with other parties in 15 hung municipalities in the Western Cape.
But DA Western Cape interim leader Albert Fritz said: “We are not going to coalitions for the sake of a mayoral chain, if we think it is not going to be principled and people want to steal money, we are not going into it.”
Western Cape figures showed a number of hung municipalities, including Beaufort West, Cape Agulhas, Cedarberg, Kannaland, Knysna, Laingsburg, Langeberg, Oudtshoorn, Prince Albert, Saldanha Bay, Theewaterskloof and Witzenberg.
ANC spokesperson Sifiso Mtsweni said they would be comfortable to work with anyone.