Cape Town - The DA’s Geordin Hill-Lewis can now officially be referred to as City’s mayor-elect, after emerging as the winner in the race for the mayorship of the City of Cape Town.
The DA’s own projections indicate that the party will win around 58.5% of the vote, which is 8.1% less than at the 2016 election, but still about 40% points ahead of closest rivals the ANC.
As at 3pm, the results of 24 municipal councils were in, with the exception of the Cape Town Metro where IEC provincial electoral officer Michael Hendrickse said 90.8% of votes had been audited.
The party had maintained a clear lead in the run up to the official announcement of the result, hovering at about 54% of the votes ahead of 18%.
The DA unveiled Hill-Lewis as the party’s mayoral candidate for the City of Cape Town back in August, when DA leader John Steenhuisen made the announcement of the party's candidates contesting in the major cities.
At 34 years old, Hill-Lewis is Cape Town’s youngest mayor since 1994. Up until now, he has been serving as the DA’s finance spokesperson, a post he held since June 2019, after current provincial Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC David Maynier moved to the provincial legislature.
First appointed to the National Assembly in August 2011, Hill-Lewis attended Edgemead High School, and holds a BCom and an honours degree in politics, philosophy and economics, from the University of Cape Town.
He obtained a master's degree in economic policy at the University of London.
Speaking to reporters at the provincial results and operations centre in Century City, Hill-Lewis said: “I feel very excited.
“There are two weeks to go before the inauguration and the council gets started, so there’s time to do some preparation and time to catch up on sleep. There’s time to really focus on our priorities.
“But my overwhelming sense is just one of excitement and a keenness to get going.”
He said his first priority would be to reduce the City’s dependence on Eskom.
“When I launched my campaign to be elected as Cape Town’s next mayor, over two months ago, I announced right up front that I am committed to ending load shedding in Cape Town over time,” said Hill-Lewis.
Speaking of his forthcoming role, Hill-Lewis said: “Our purpose in government is simple: to improve the living conditions of the poorest residents, to roll back poverty, to spread opportunity, to grow the economy, to deliver excellent basic services, to inspire optimism, and to be an example to the country.”
mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za