WITH only four weeks left before the November 1 municipal elections, the former Cape Town mayor’s political party has released its candidate list for the city.
The Good party list consists of former City councillors who resigned shortly after Patricia de Lille left, community development activists, an award-winning actress and a champion for the rights of homeless people.
Good mayoral candidate for Cape Town, Brett Herron, said the party would be contesting all 116 wards in the metro.
“When we enter the council chambers next month we must be ready to govern from day one," said Herron, adding that the stakes for the people of Cape Town "were high and the party must be ready to hit the ground running”.
He said the party had the experience and skills to govern.
“The experience has been gained inside local government, within the private sector, from various professions, and from passionate community activists and workers,” Herron said.
He added that the team was diverse and had the different skills, experience, and passion to govern Cape Town.
The proportional representation list also included former Mayco member for Social Development and early childhood development Suzette Little, community development practitioner, Roger Solomons and community activist and former councillor Philiswa Marman.
Also on the list was Gavin Joachims, who worked for more than two decades in social and community development and served in an advisory role to national, provincial and local government as well as global agencies on education, and social and community development.
Award-winning actress and expert panellist and former commissioner for the Western Cape Cultural Commission Celeste Wannenburgh was also on the list.
Others who made the list included water resource specialist and policy development expert Mark Rountree, estate agent Saul Markgraaf, accountant and entrepreneur Anton Louw, activist Pumeza Mtimkulu, imam and community activist Fakhier Mohamed and Joy Davids, whose family was among the last to be forcibly removed from District Six.
Most of the PR councillors were also fielded in the ward councillor list which included Carlos Mesquita, a “man whose life has taken him from top scholar, graduate, to record company boss to a homeless man”, said Good.
Mesquita was now managing director of The Rehoming Collective.
For Ward 48 in Athlone, the party fielded software developer Shabirah Abdullah, former ward councillor George March, the candidate for ward 66 in Parkwood and in Mitchells Plain, anti-corruption activist Andre Rix and community worker as candidates for wards 76 and 116 respectively.
More than 39 political parties and independent candidates registered with the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) will take part in the upcoming local elections.
Some of the parties will be contesting for the first time, including the Dagga Party, National Independent Movement, Abantu Batho Congress and Black First Land First.
The IEC said over 12 000 candidate certificates were issued across the province.
Political analyst Professor Bheki Mngomezulu said there was a lot at stake in the upcoming elections.
“A party like Good will draw most of its voters from the same areas where the DA has had a stronghold and is expected to disrupt the norm.
“Good stands a better chance to win but not enough to displace the DA especially in the metro,” Mngomezulu said.
According to Mngomezulu, some voters would vote for the DA out of loyalty regardless of its “mistakes”.
He expected the new smaller parties to be “vote spoilers” and not get enough votes to win a seat in the council.