City council speaker Dirk Smith with Ward 115 councillor IanMcMahon.
The DA’s Ian McMahon has been elected and sworn in as the new councillor for Ward 115, following last week’s by-elections.
The post was left vacant after previous ward councillor Dave Bryant took up his seat in the National Assembly.
The ward covers Salt River, Woodstock, Zonnebloem, the city centre, the Foreshore, Gardens, Green Point, Mouille Point, Paarden Eiland and Three Anchor Bay.
Mr McMahon received 1 623 of the 1 972 votes cast, winning with an 82.3% majority.
This is Mr McMahon’s first time as a ward councillor, but he chaired the De Waterkant Civic Association for the past six years.
He was also chairman of the DA Ward 115 branch committee.
He has worked in the private sector for more than 30 years.
His priorities while in office include the economic recovery plan for the CBD, service delivery, homelessness, cleansing and security.
“The South African economy has been hard-hit in 2020, and our city has felt this impact,” he said.
“The CBD is the beating heart of the metro. I’ll make it my mission to drive our CBD economic recovery plan and support businesses to remain resilient so we can rebuild when we’re ready.”
The road to recovery would be long, he said, but he promised to listen to businesses and residents and work with them to find opportunities for economic recovery and growth in the ward.
He would work with ratepayer associations and service-ratings agencies to ensure accountable local government service delivery, he said.
“I will continue to focus on the regeneration of public-open spaces projects, which have been successfully delivered to date. I am committed to regular site meetings with officials, following up and providing feedback on service-delivery issues.”
Homelessness was still a big issue in the ward, he said, and he would tackle it through the field-worker programme and by working with all stakeholders, pushing social- services interventions, and supporting the “Give Dignity” campaign.
He would work with the City’s displaced people’s unit to reintegrate people and help them to go to shelters or back to their families.
He would engage regularly with law enforcement and community safety groups in the ward.
“We shall continue the mayoral urban regeneration plan, install more security lights and strive to hire more EPWP (expanded public works programme) staffers to assist with cleaning our streets and combating illegal dumping.”
Mr McMahon said illegal dumping, crime and service delivery remained burning issues in Woodstock and Salt River, and he would tackle them.
“I understand from the residents that their number one issue is illegal dumping and littering, followed by crime and service delivery.
“I have plans that, when working together, we can raise these levels, increase better service delivery and work hard to make the streets cleaner and safer in Woodstock and Salt River.”
He thanked all those who had voted for him and said he would work hard for all residents in his ward.