Voter have chosen who they want to lead their wards in the coming five years. Photo: File
Following the local government elections which occurred on November 1, Fourways residents have voted for who they want to be their leaders for the coming five years.
The Fourways Review reached out to the candidates who won the wards. Here’s what they had to say…
CHRIS SANTANA, (DA) Ward 106: Thank you for this opportunity to officially thank all of you for taking the time to go out and vote. It’s important to vote, it’s your voice. That being said the low voters’ turnout is worrisome to say the very least. I wish all my opponents well in their endeavours. I pledged that I will do what I can to ensure service delivery. Rest assured it’s going to be an interesting term. I am thankful and grateful to all the volunteers who gave up their time to assist in the elections, the backbone to ensuring free and fair elections are possible. Thank you again.MARK VAN DER MERWE, (DA) Ward 115: Clearly it is an honour to be elected to serve the residents of Ward 115. I have been diligently doing so for the last 20 months or so since I was moved to assist in Ward 115. As a councillor, I now will have additional power to bring service delivery and I will have access to additional groups run by the various entities that provide those services. Service delivery will be for all residents and my aim is to ensure that every person is heard and that we provide answers to all the issues that are raised. As always it will be a two-way street. The residents are expected to raise the issues and then if they are not resolved within the prescribed SLA (Service Level Agreements) of the City, they should escalate to me and I can then take that further with the assistance of Urban Management. Under the Municipal Systems Act no one, not even a councillor, may instruct a City official on how to do their job. But we have the ability to communicate lack of or slow service delivery through the Urban Management [department] who assist in getting things resolved.DAVID FOLEY, (DA) Ward 94: I would just like to thank all the residents of ward 94 especially those in Cluny Farm where there were no ballots boxes for an hour and Lonehill Fire Station where the queues were unacceptable. Even after the gates closed at 21:00 over 350 people still needed to vote. An average of two to three and a half hours was spent in the queue. Some voters left and returned, I thank you, and the result speaks for itself. I have taken all these matters up with the IEC to improve on in the 2024 elections. I will do my best to serve the residents of Ward 94 effectively and to ensure required services are delivered. Once again, thank you.
Vino Reddy from the DA won Ward 93 and has yet to comment on his victory. Long-standing councillor and candidate for Ward 132 Annette Deppe has returned to her position and has yet to comment about her victory. Ward 96 was won by Rufas Maswazi, this ward was led by DA in the previous administration.
