Mercia Draghoender voted in as mayor of George

The Independent Democrat deputy mayor of George, Mercia Draghoender, and speaker Bazil Petrus share a moment of triumph as Draghoender is appointed acting mayor of the town on January 20, after DA mayor Flip de Swardt was voted out in a 21 majority vote of no confidence by the ANC, ID and ACDP. Looking on is municipal manager Cecil Africa who has recently been on acrimonious terms with De Swardt. The DA and ID coalition has been in tatters for months over a power sharing agreement, which finally ended when the ID aligned with the ANC to bring De Swardt down. In a  surprising move, DA member of parliament for George Marius Swart and DA George chairman Daniel Maritz announced the following day that the party would not put a mayoral candidate forward for today's (Wednesday January 27) meeting, but would become the official opposition, where, according to Swart, the party could make a difference. 'We will also concentrate on the 2011 municipal elections where we hope to garner more than 50% of the votes to become the leading party again.'

Author: Kelvin Dippnall