The DA in eThekwini takes pleasure in announcing the appointment of Councillor Andre Beetge to the eThekwini Executive Committee (EXCO) during a full council sitting yesterday.
The new appointment will unfortunately necessitate resignation as a member of the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (Mpac) where he played a significant role in holding officials to account or spearheading investigations into corruption and legislative irregularities.
Councillor Beetge will join caucus leader Councillor Thabani Mthethwa and Councillor Yogis Govender to complete the DA component on the executive committee comprising a total of ten councillors on proportional representation that includes the Mayor (ANC) & Deputy Mayor (ABC).
The vacancy occurred with the resignation of Councillor Nicole Graham who is currently pursuing a MBA in Australia.
A third term elected ward councillor, Beetge joins the executive team with vast institutional knowledge that also extends municipal public accounts and finance for a collective period of eight years.
From a career starting in law enforcement and legal studies into retail, manufacturing, engineering, management and senior positions in the corporate sector which eventually led to self-employ, he found his way into active politics in 2010. In addition to performing duties as an elected public representative, he also served the DA at branch level and as both a constituency chairperson and member of the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) since 2012.
He played a crucial role with keeping up to date and providing necessary assistance to residents during the unprecedented July unrest as well as the April floods.
While not relenting on ward or Mpac duties, nor neglecting to pester officials for storm related repair updates, he has also by own accord been attending EXCO meetings as an observer during the past month, thus already affording him a platform of approach to the new task at hand.
Together with the current DA EXCO Members and councillors, Beetge will continue fighting for residents of eThekwini to bring forth reliable service delivery and hold the ANC accountable.