New Council inaugurated

Kouga Executive Mayor Elza van Lingen delivers her inaugural address.

The new Kouga Council was inaugurated at Kruisfontein Community Hall in Humansdorp on 19 August 2016.

The inauguration follows the 2016 Local Government Election, which saw the balance of power swing in the closely-contested Council. The previous opposition, the Democratic Alliance (DA) took 17 of the 29 available Council positions. The former ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC) took the remaining 12.

Clr Elza van Lingen was elected as Kouga’s new Executive Mayor while Clr Horatio Hendricks was elected as Speaker.

The Mayoral Committee positions will be filled by Desmond Petersen (Infrastructure, Planning and Development), Danny Benson (Social Services), Frances Baxter (Tourism and Creative Industries), Bryan Dhludhlu (Local Economic Development), Brenton Williams (Finance) and Nico Botha (Administration, Monitoring & Evaluation and Special Projects).