DA secures coalitions in Karoo municipalities, district
12 August 2016
Cape Town - The Democratic Alliance has entered into coalitions with parties to secure councils in Prince Albert, Laingsburg and Beaufort West, the party's Western Cape leader Patricia de Lille said on Friday.
She said they had reached an agreement with the Karoo Gemeenskap Party (KGP), the Karoo Democratic Force (KDF) and the Karoo Ontwikkelings Party (KOP), formally known as the Karoo Gemeenskap Inisiatief.
Agreements included the three local municipalities, as well as the overarching Central Karoo District Municipality.
The new mayors for these municipalities who attended the briefing seemed jovial.
"I want to express appreciation for the support from voters across the Western Cape," De Lille said in Cape Town.
Assurances were made by all parties to work together and "make progress" in the Karoo.
Trading positions
In Prince Albert, votes were split equally between the DA, KGP and African National Congress.
The coalition agreement here meant Goliath Lottering from the KGP would become mayor. The DA would take the deputy mayor and speaker positions.
In Laingsburg, the ANC secured 46.08%, followed by the DA's 43.88% and the KOP 4.5%.
The KOP's Aubrey Marthinus will be mayor. The DA receives the deputy mayor position.
In Beaufort West, the DA just missed a majority with 48.99% of the vote. ANC got 42.21% and KDF, 5.18%.
The DA's Djorge Malooi will be mayor. The speaker and deputy mayor positions also go to the DA.
'Strong bond'
De Lille was born in Beaufort West.
"My poor birth place was in a mess, it was filthy, pot holes," she said, adding that she was "overjoyed".
The KDF's Noel Constable will be mayor of the Karoo district municipality.
De Lille said there was a "strong bond" between coalition partners and they all agreed service delivery was number one.
A dispute mechanism procedure was in place.
"We have a special political committee to discuss issues before it goes on the council agenda. If there is no consensus, it is escalated to provincial structures and then national structures."
Matter before Electoral Court
According to De Lille, the DA was going into coalitions with an independent candidate in Knynsa, the FF Plus in Hessequa and Cope in Witzenberg.
The DA reacted to reports that Active United Front leader Peter Lobese was elected as mayor in Bitou on Friday, apparently as part of an ANC coalition.
The DA east region chair Jaco Londt said they had disputed the reconciliation of some vote tallies in voting districts, which saw them just missing out on an outright majority.
The IEC made a ruling on this but the party did not agree and took the matter to the Electoral Court.
"The way they constituted the municipality today is subject to the ruling by the court. If the court rules in favour of the DA, it will mean there is no need to form a coalition at all."
This article first appeared on News24, see here.
