Executive Mayor submits resignation to ensure stability of Tshwane’s multi-party coalition

13 February 2023

To the residents of Tshwane, officials of the City, my fellow councillors and colleagues in the Democratic Alliance, members of the multi-party coalition and those that serve in the opposition benches.

Today I am formally resigning as the Executive Mayor of the City of Tshwane as of midnight this evening.

To have served in this role has been one of the greatest honours of my life. There is no greater privilege I believe than to have been chosen to public office to represent my fellow citizens.

One of my core goals as Executive Mayor has always been to ensure the stability of the multi-party coalition in Tshwane without which service deliver suffers. I do not want the political instability that has taken place in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni to spill over into Tshwane. To keep the multi-party coalition together required continuous communication and engagement to ensure unity in our city to achieve our goals.

I resign today because I believe it is in the best interest for continued stability of the coalition in the city. Being Executive Mayor of the Capital City has not been without its difficulties but I have embraced every challenge that has come my way in the execution of my duties, all of which have allowed my own personal development.

I resign today not in frustration, resentment or anger but in peace knowing that I have been given an incredible opportunity and I have fulfilled my duties to the best of my abilities.

When I was first elected Executive Mayor of Tshwane at the end of October 2020 the city was in an incredibly challenging position. We had just removed the ANC administrators who had mismanaged the city and our country was still in a state of Covid-19 lockdown. Having inherited a R4 billion deficit at the time, my immediate goal was to stabilize the city's finances.

At that point I was leading a DA minority governmen and within a year we would have the local government elections. Thus there was immense pressure to guide the city to those elections and ensure stability in the government which was incredibly difficult.

Campaigning and ensuring proper governance of the city is very challenging but I was able to do this with a good team and clear focus on the tasks ahead with our ten point service delivery plan.

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In November 2021 1 was once again elected as the Executive Mayor of Tshwane, this time at the head of the city's first multi-party coalition govemment.

Our focus as a team has always been on prioritizing core service delivery in the city and ensuring its continued financial stability.

This is why we kicked off 2022 with our aggressive TshwaneYaTima campaign to highlight the challenges facing the city in terms of non-payment and driving collections so that we could enhance service delivery.

In the months that followed I conducted numerous basic service delivery operations across the city to ensure that our teams were on the ground. I have joined and led our by-law teams as we restored law and order in our city and have been particularly proud of TMPD who have removed illegal drugs worth millions of rands off the streets and arrested countless drug dealers.

Our focus on core infrastructure in the city has never waivered. We have never opted for vanity projects that bring no direct benefit to our residents. Top of our priorities have always been our electricity, water and road infrastructure which after years of neglect required urgent attention.

We prioritized substation refurbishment projects across the city from Bronkhorspruit, to Kosmodal to Soshanguve to ensure we protect this critical infrastructure.

Furthermore, at the end of this month we will formally unveil Townlands, the biggest social housing project in the country.

I implore the next leadership of the city to stay true to these priorities as we look towards the future.

As I leave office I want to thank my fellow Members of the Mayoral Committee for their dedication, hard work and efforts over these past months. We had an incredible team.

I want to acknowledge my party, the Democratic Alliance for putting their faith in me alongside my local DA caucus and the members of our multi-party coalition. To all of the activists and supporters out there who helped me get elected, thank you. To the officials of the City and those in the Office of the Mayor, I wish you all the best and thank you for your service.

Finally, to the residents of Tshwane, thank you for your support. Our city has immense potential and I am hopeful for its future and growth. It has been my honour to have served as your Executive Mayor.

Issued by Randall Williams, Tshwane Executive Mayor, 13 February 2023