New councillor Gayton McKenzie chosen as Laingsburg’s district representative

By: Sello Theletsane

The president of the Patriotic Alliance (PA), Gayton McKenzie, was sworn in as a councillor in the small Karoo town of Laingsburg on Thursday morning, whereafter he was immediately seconded to go to the district council as Laingsburg’s representative.

McKenzie had replaced the former mayor of Laingsburg, Mitchell Smith, as a proportional representation councillor.
The secondment to the district was agreed on after a vote overseen by the Independent Electoral Commission of SA, which saw McKenzie being entrusted with the secondment by four votes to three against the Democratic Alliance’s Aletta Theron.

A vote will be taken on Monday in the district council, based in Beaufort West, for who will be sworn in as the next district mayor following the recent resignation of the ANC’s Johanna Botha.
McKenzie has already publicly announced that he would like to be considered for the job of district mayor.

The PA is already in a governing coalition with the ANC and several other smaller parties in the three local municipalities that comprise the district.
Should he be elected, he has vowed to turn around the economy of the Central Karoo in pursuit of job creation for the largely impoverished semi-desert area’s residents.

McKenzie has been in politics since 2013, but this represents his first commitment to personal public service. He has said that he will not be drawing a salary or agreeing to benefit from any of the other perks of being an elected official, with the money instead to be donated to the needs of the elderly and abused in the district.

McKenzie has entrusted the running of his businesses to his partners and employees in order to focus on building a record of public service. He will also be donating some of his own personal funds to the area for a mayoral project to build an old age home while there.

McKenzie said on Thursday morning: “I am very humbled to be entrusted with this secondment to the district. Let’s see what happens on Monday. I’ve learnt never to discuss things that may happen in future too much and we’re taking it one step at a time.”

The decision by McKenzie has caused waves throughout political circles as it represents the clearest move yet that the PA leader intends to transition his life into politics full time, with national and provincial elections due in 2024.