Mayor of Cape Town
One of the main features of Mayor Oliver’s term was promoting the right of all citizens to protest peacefully against the injustices of the apartheid laws of that time.
Mayors prior to multiracial democratic dispensation at local government level
Mayor of Cape Town
Gordon Oliver
1989 – 1991
Cape Town, like every other city and town in South Africa at that time, was experiencing huge turmoil and unrest due to police action in preventing the public from peacefully engaging in protest action.
On 13th September 1989, five days after Oliver’s inauguration as mayor, he participated in a public protest march in the city, accompanying Archbishop Desmond Tutu and many other religious and civic leaders as well as 30 000 Capetonians of all walks of life. This event attracted major national and international publicity. It has been said that his role in this event had a significant influence on then President De Klerk’s decision on 2nd February 1990 to formally and finally abandon apartheid as government policy.
While publicly supporting the right to peaceful protests Oliver also wanted to demonstrate the City of Cape Town’s longstanding commitment to opposing the apartheid government’s ongoing denial of the right to justice, freedom and dignity to people of colour in the larger context of South Africa’s racist political ideology.
That protest march was the first of the two major highlights of Oliver’s mayoral term. The second was welcoming Nelson Mandela to the city hall to address the nation and the world on 11th February 1990, the day of his release from prison. Oliver was again to play a small role then in the making of history in our country.
In keeping with his liberal principles, Oliver later was ordained as a minister in the Cape Town Unitarian Church, a liberal community promoting free religious enquiry.
Mayor of Cape Town | |
---|---|
Style | The Honourable |
Appointer | Cape Town City Council |
Term length | Five years |
Inaugural holder | Michiel van Breda |
Formation | 1840 |
Website | Official Website |
The Mayor of Cape Town is the head of the local government of Cape Town, South Africa; currently that government takes the form of the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality. In the past, the position of Mayor has varied between that of an executive mayor actively governing the city and that of a figurehead mayor with a mostly ceremonial role.
Current Office
This is a list of Mayors of Cape Town in South Africa:
City of Cape Town (December 2000 - Present)
Name | Term of office | Political party | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Peter Marais | December 2000 | November 2001 | New National Party | |
Gerald Morkel | December 2001 | October 2002 | New National Party | |
Nomaindia Mfeketo | October 2002 | March 2006 | African National Congress | |
Helen Zille | March 2006 | April 2009 | Democratic Alliance | |
Grant Haskin (acting) | April 2009 | May 2009 | African Christian Democratic Party | |
Dan Plato | May 2009 | May 2011 | Democratic Alliance | |
Patricia de Lille | June 2011 | October 2018 | Democratic Alliance | |
Ian Neilson (acting) |
May 2018 October 2018 |
May 2018 November 2018 |
Democratic Alliance | |
Dan Plato | November 2018 | Incumbent | Democratic Alliance |
Historic Offices
Metropolitan Local Councils (June 1996 - December 2000)
Cape Metropolitan Council (CMC)
- Attie Adriaanse (2000)[1] (NNP)
- Rev William Bantom (1996 - 2000) [2] (NNP)
City of Cape Town Municipality (Central Substructure)
City of Tygerberg Municipality (Tygerberg Substructure)
South Peninsula Municipality (Southern Substructure)
- John Oswald "OJ" Jacobs (1996 - 2000) (NNP)
Helderberg Municipality (Helderberg Substructure)
- Leon Deacon (1996 - 2000) (NNP)
Oostenberg Municipality (Eastern Substructure)
- Danny De La Cruz (1996 - 2000) (NNP)
Blaauwberg Municipality (Northern Substructure)
City of Cape Town Transitional Council (February 1995 - June 1996)
- Rev William Bantom (1995 - 1996) (NP)
Mayors prior to multiracial democratic dispensation at local government level
(Unless otherwise indicated, names are taken from the cumulative list of mayors published in the annual Mayor's Minutes)
- Patricia Kreiner (1993 - 1995)
- Clive Keegan (1993)
- Frank van der Velde (1991 - 1993)
- Gordon Oliver (1989 - 1991)[3][4]
- Peter Muller (South African politician) (1987 - 1989)
- Leon Markowitz (1985 - 1987)
- Sol Kreiner (1983 - 1985)
- M.J. van Zyl (1981 - 1983)
- Louis Kreiner (1979 - 1981)
- Edward Mauerberger (1977 - 1979)
- John Tyers (1975 - 1977)
- David Bloomberg (1973 - 1975)
- Richard Friedlander (1971 - 1973)
- Jan Dommisse (1969 - 1971)
- Gerald Ferry (1967 - 1969)
- Walter Gradner (1965 - 1967)
- William Peters (South African politician)|William Peters(1963 - 1965)
- Alfred Honikman (1961 - 1963)
- Joyce Newton Thompson (1959 - 1961), first female Mayor
- Colonel John Orville Billingham (1957 - 1959)
- Pieter Wolmarans (1955 - 1957)
- Arthur Keen (politician) (1953 - 1955)
- Fritz Sonnenberg(1951 - 1953)
- Charles Booth (politician) (1949 - 1951)
- Herbert Gearing (1947 - 1949)
- Abe Bloomberg (1945 - 1947)
- Ernest Nyman (1943 - 1945)
- Walter James (politician) (1941 - 1943)
- Wilfred Brinton (1939 - 1941)
- WC Foster (1937 - 1939)
- James Low (politician) (1935 - 1937)
- Louis Gradner (1933 - 1935)
- Henry Stephan (1931 - 1933)
- Rev Alfred Lewis (South African politician) (1929 - 1931)
- Andrew Reid (South African politician) (1927 - 1929)
- William Fish (South African politician) (1925 - 1927)
- Ryno J. Verster (1922 - 1925)
- William Gardener (1920 - 1922)
- William J. Thorne (South African politician) (1918 - 1920)
- Sir Harry Hands (1915 - 1918) (second term)
- John Parker (1913 - 1915), first Mayor of "Greater" Cape Town after surrounding municipalities had been incorporated into the city
- Harry Hands (1912 - 1913) (first term) [5]
- Sir Frank Smith (1908 - 1912)
- William Duncan Baxter (1907 - 1908)[6]
- Hyman Liberman (1904 - 1907)
- Sir William Thorne (1901 - 1904)
- Thomas O'Reilly (1900 - 1901) (second term)
- Thomas Ball (1898 - 1900)
- Herman Boalch (1897 - 1898) (died in office)
- Sir John Woodhead (1896 - 1897) (fourth term)
- James Attwell (1895 - 1896)
- George Smart (1894 - 1895)
- John Woodhead (1893 - 1894) (third term)
- Johan Mocke (1892 - 1893)
- David Pieter de Villiers Graaff (1890 - 1892), later Minister of Public Works and Finance [7]
- David Christiaan de Waal (1889 - 1890)
- John Woodhead (1888 - 1889) (second term)
- Thomas O'Reilly (1887 - 1888) (first term)
- John Woodhead (1886 - 1887) (first term)
- Thomas James Campbell Inglesby (1885 - 1886), former honorary Colonel of Cape Field Artillery[8]
- Philip Stigant (1884 - 1885) (third term)
- Charles Lewis (1883 - 1884) (second term)
- William Fleming (1881 - 1883)
- Petrus Kotze (1879 - 1881)
- Jan Christiaan Hofmeyr (1878 - 1879)
- John Philip (1877 - 1878)
- Charles Lewis (1876 - 1877) (first term)
- P.U. Leibbrandt (1875 - 1876)
- Philip Stigant (1874 - 1875) (second term)
- Gillis J. de Korte (1872 - 1874) (third term)
- Philip Stigant (1871-1872) (first term)
- Gillis J. de Korte (1866 - 1871) (second term), title changed from "chairman" to "mayor" in 1867
- D.G. van Breda (1865 - 1866) (second term)
- Joseph Barry (1863 - 1865)
- Thomas Watson (1863)
- W. Herman (1862 - 1863)
- Gillis J. de Korte (1860 - 1862) (first term)
- D.G. van Breda (1860) (first term)
- Hercules Crosse Jarvis (1848 - 1860)
- J.J.L. Smuts (1844 - 1848)
- Michiel van Breda (1840 - 1844), first Chairman of the Cape Town Municipality[9]
See also
References
- "Successor to porn-watching mayor elected". Independent Newspapers. 27 September 2000.
- "Porn-watching mayor says sorry". Independent Newspapers. 12 September 2000.
- "Quotes about Cape Town mayoral system".
- "Great Guides - Roddy Bray".
- "Two Minutes of Silence and Poppies".
- "William Duncan Baxter".
- Union of South Africa
- Gunners of The Cape - Neil Orpen
- Bredasdorp Archived 2003-03-20 at the Wayback Machine