GOOD LEADER, PATRICIA DE LILLE, TO CAMPAIGN FOR PREMIER OF THE WESTERN CAPE.

GOOD also selects Premier Candidates for Gauteng, North-West & Northern Cape

10 February 2019

The GOOD movement, launched by Patricia De Lille, on 2 December 2018 is about 8 weeks old.

We are excited by the response we have had from South Africans across the country and we have volunteers active, on the ground, in all nine provinces building this movement.

Last week we launched our manifesto: “The GOOD Plan to Fix South Africa (#FIXSA)”.  

This plan is underpinned by realistic policy papers that are being finalised, following our policy conference 3 weeks ago, and which we will begin to release and publish in the days to come.

GOOD is committed to rekindling the hopes and dreams of a South Africa that is prosperous, just and fair. GOOD leaders, and people, have the courage and the leadership to do what it takes.

Over the past two weeks GOOD has been assessing nominees for our Premier Candidates.

Provincial Coordinating Committees, in each province, were requested to submit nominations to the national leadership.  

We have finalised the selection process for four of the provinces: Western Cape, Northern Cape, Gauteng and North West.

In the case of the Western Cape the Provincial Coordinating Committee submitted one, unanimous, nomination.

Nine nominees went through a competitive selection process that included an assessment tool specially designed for GOOD by an independent industrial psychologist. 

The National Leadership Committee considered the outcome of this process on Friday evening and I am pleased to announce that the following candidates have been selected as the Premier Candidates for their respective provinces:

Western Cape: Patricia de Lille

Patricia de Lille needs no introduction to South African politics. 

An anti-apartheid activist, and a former trade unionist, she became a Member of Parliament in our first democratic parliament in 1994. In that first parliament De Lille served as the Chairperson of the Transport Portfolio Committee.

De Lille is known for exposing the first major corruption scandal in our democratic era - the Arms Deal. 

De Lille was also the first woman to start a political party in South Africa. 

She served as the Western Cape Minister (MEC) for Social Development before being elected Executive Mayor of the City of Cape Town in 2011.

De Lille was the only Mayor, since democracy, to complete a term of office.  She was also the only Mayor to be re-elected and she is the longest serving Mayor of any metropolitan government in South Africa. 

De Lille has been voted as one of the top 100 greatest South Africans in a public poll conducted a few years ago.  

As Mayor of Cape Town, De Lille was an active campaigner for climate change action by cities and towns and served as a board member, and as a Chairperson, of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy.

Harvard Economics Professor Edward Glaeser described her as one of the “world’s best mayors”. 

De Lille has served her country with distinction and is one of the most experienced politicians in our country. 

GOOD Leader, Patricia De Lille, gives residents of the Western Cape the opportunity to elect a Premier with the leadership, experience, passion and energy to unite our province, grow its economy, and care for our most vulnerable.

North West Province: Vivien Law

Vivien Law has an extensive background in philanthropy, business and within the NGO sector in the North West, where is she also a farmer.

Law currently manages Ancient Earth, a farming business, and runs Parliament of the People a Non-Profit Company that establishes Residents’ Forums and Committees in rural and peri-urban communities where there are critical service delivery challenges. 

Law, and her organisation, are social activists working for solutions and justice  around issues such as access to water, mining social labour plans, sanitation, education, children and youth in the North West Province. 

She is active in many communities within the North West and her experience and community involvement embodies the values of the GOOD movement.

Law exemplifies servant leadership, passion and care.  

Law is also the Deputy National Organiser of GOOD. 

Northern Cape: Leonard McKay

Leonard Mckay was born in Upington and raised in Kakamas. 

He currently resides in the Green Kalahari of the Northern Cape. 

He works as an investigator and case presenter. 

McKay is involved in many initiatives particularly within arts and culture and has been a participant in projects including providing art, contribution to poetry and design work for murals. 

McKay runs various art projects in the Northern Cape. He is also a writer and has won first prize in the SABC education writers competition for a short story he produced. 

He is passionate about the youth and through his own youth projects, he was awarded the National Heritage award for the Young Heritage Activist in 2015 by the National Heritage Council of South Africa. 

Mckay is a dynamic individual who balances his professional work with developing the arts and culture community in the Northern Cape.

Gauteng Province: Lehlohonolo Mtshali

Lehlohonolo Mtshali was a child raised by his grandparents in circumstances of great hardship in Vosloorus East. 

His experience with hardship and poverty led to his passion for social activism.

Mtshali is a young, dynamic and energetic campaigner for the alleviation of poverty and for fair and just services to the poorest amongst us.

As a young man, Mtshali formed part of a group called “June 16” which actively fought for the empowerment and development of young men and women in townships.  

Mtshali served as a Councillor in the Ekhuruleni Metropolitan government for 6 years.

Mtshali is a Co-Founder of the Township Business Association, which assists young businesses to access training and funding from the private sector and government. 

He is also a Co-founder of an NGO called Ingqolobane Foundation. 

Mtshali is also the Deputy Secretary General of GOOD. 

The process to select Premier candidates for remaining 5 provinces is still underway.  The GOOD leaders selected as the Premier Candidates in those provinces will be announced when the selection process has concluded.

The National Leadership Committee also agreed, on Friday evening, to open the process for the selection of GOOD candidates to parliament and the various provincial legislatures.

GOOD will launch its Western Cape #FIXSA Campaign next Saturday 16 February 2019.  

Thereafter the movement will launch the #FIXSA campaigns in Gauteng, North West and the Northern Cape.  

Province by Province, City by City, Town by Town, GOOD will #FIXSA. 

Statement issued by Brett Herron, GOOD Secretary-General, 10 February 2019