Ian Ollis is the new Democratic Alliance Member of Parliament for the Linden constituency, now that Ian Davidson vacated his post on 30 November last year.
Councillors for Wards 69, 87, 88, 98, 99 held a meeting on 9 January to welcome Ollis and bid farewell to Davidson.
“We were very sad to lose Ian Davidson as the MP for our area,” said councillor for ward 87, Amanda Forsythe.
“He was so incredibly knowledgeable and we all learnt so much from him. His are very big shoes to fill, but we’re delighted to have someone of Ian Ollis’ calibre to guide us through what is likely to be a very challenging election period.”
Ollis’ role in his new position is to assist residents with issues of national concern, support councillors and train activists and volunteers.
He must support the councillors and lead campaigns for the upcoming elections as well.
Ollis, who is also the Member of Parliament for the Sandton/Alexandra constituency and holds the transport portfolio, has lived in Johannesburg for 23 years and is familiar with this new constituency.
“This is quite an exciting challenge for me as the constituency has lots of diverse communities. There is a strong Muslim and Jewish presence, a large Afrikaans community, the culturally integrated lovers of Melville and everyone in between from Riverlea to Northcliff. My job in parliament is to be the voice of all of these different groups of people.”
In closing, Ollis urged all South Africans to register to vote at this year’s National Elections.
The last voter registration weekend is scheduled for 8-9 February.
