In his acceptance speech, Brink urged all councillors to work together and put aside their differences, for the greater good of the city.
“There will be time for battle, but there also has to be time for serious deliberation, earnest debate, empathy, and for co-operation. Each of us, no matter how politically warm-blooded we are, must love our city and our country more than we dislike each other,” he said.
The newly elected mayor said he will strive to build a capital city that works for all residents, improves the lives of the poor, and creates opportunities for all people to move up in life.
“Nothing that has happened in the past three weeks can take away the honour of this office. I thank the councillors who voted for me for their confidence in my leadership.
“The people of this capital city and country at large have more in common than what sets them apart. We want to build a capital city that works, is free of corruption, and [provides] consistent basic services and value for the tariffs and rates paid.
“We look to success stories in the Western Cape and Cape Town where we have seen successful governments and we want to bring that here. We have to get control of Tshwane's finances and bring our spending in line with our revenue,” Brink said.
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DA's Cilliers Brink is the latest newly elected mayor of Tshwane
The DA's Cilliers Brink is the new executive mayor of Tshwane.
Brink achieved victory on the third attempt at the election of a mayor through the support of the multiparty coalition which included the DA, Action SA, the ACDP and the IFP.
The two previous attempts were marred by caucus breaks, delays, termination of memberships of various councillors, confusion over the filling of their vacancies and contention over voting methods, among other issues.
The capital city mayor garnered 109 votes, while COPE's Ofentse Moalusi received 102 votes in the 213-seat council. Two councillors did not vote.
Brink, a University of Pretoria law graduate, is no stranger to the municipality, having served as a councillor in 2011 and as group corporate and shared services MMC from 2016 to 2019. Since then, Brink moved to parliament and represented the official opposition DA as national spokesperson and as co-operative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) portfolio committee member.
The vote was declared free and fair.
Image: Supplied
In his acceptance speech, Brink urged all councillors to work together and put aside their differences, for the greater good of the city.
“There will be time for battle, but there also has to be time for serious deliberation, earnest debate, empathy, and for co-operation. Each of us, no matter how politically warm-blooded we are, must love our city and our country more than we dislike each other,” he said.
The newly elected mayor said he will strive to build a capital city that works for all residents, improves the lives of the poor, and creates opportunities for all people to move up in life.
“Nothing that has happened in the past three weeks can take away the honour of this office. I thank the councillors who voted for me for their confidence in my leadership.
“The people of this capital city and country at large have more in common than what sets them apart. We want to build a capital city that works, is free of corruption, and [provides] consistent basic services and value for the tariffs and rates paid.
“We look to success stories in the Western Cape and Cape Town where we have seen successful governments and we want to bring that here. We have to get control of Tshwane's finances and bring our spending in line with our revenue,” Brink said.
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Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
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