All eyes on composition of Hill-Lewis’s new Mayco

MAYOR Geordin Hill-Lewis has said that Capetonians can expect a newlook mayoral committee (Mayco) today, with a sprinkle of new faces mixed with some familiar names who are being retained to provide continuity and institutional memory.

However, pressed for details, he remained tight-lipped about the precise make-up of his new committee, except to say: “There will be a mix of experience in some portfolios and new Mayco members too, and some may be reshuffled.”

Members of the new Mayco will have to undergo lifestyle audits upon assuming office, Hill-Lewis said.

“After spending more than a decade in Parliament, I know full well that sunlight is the best disinfectant,” he said.

Speculation has been rife about some high-profile councillors, such as former mayor Dan Plato, and also about whether the man who has long held the safety and security portfolio, JP Smith, may be moved to represent the DA in Parliament or the legislature.

There is a space on the party’s parliamentary list since Hill-Lewis left Parliament, where he was the DA’s finance spokesperson.

The party also has a spot to fill in the legislature after former Transport and Public Works MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela resigned amid the furore over his qualifications cited on his CV in April.

DA insiders think that Plato, who had been in the legislature, where he served as Community Safety MEC before he was moved to the City to become mayor, may now be off to Parliament.

Reached for comment about when decisions would be made on the DA Western Cape representatives to fill the vacant posts, the party’s provincial leader Albert Fritz said: “The selection panel for both provincial legislature and national Parliament will be sitting soon.”

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a former councillor said: “In the DA the appointment of Mayco members by a mayor is subject to the approval of the party’s Federal Executive (FedEx).

“Hill-Lewis is a DA insider, so he may find support in FedEx for big changes and for axing Smith. But Smith is also an insider. The clash over Mayco has been going on since the election. I don’t know what the outcome will be, but the mayor will need the support of the national leadership for his appointments,” the councillor said.

In 2016, then mayor Patricia de Lille (now GOOD Party leader and Public Works and Infrastructure Minister) wanted to remove Smith from the safety and security portfilio. She was unable to persuade FedEx members to support her reconfigured Mayco and Smith was retained in the post.