At the 5th Eden District Municipality Council meeting on Monday, 29 May 2017, Cllr Tertuis Simmers was elected as new Speaker of Council. The election of the new Speaker follows the resignation of Cllr Mark Willemse as Speaker.
In congratulating and welcoming Speaker Simmers to his new position, Executive Mayor of Eden District Municipality, Cllr Memory Booysen, said: “You will be a good leader and we will support you”. At the same time, Mayor Booysen appointed Cllr Willemse as his new Portfolio Chairperson for Roads and emphasised: “We are all good and this shows that we can change at any given time, due to our capabilities and we will continue as nothing has changed”.
Cllr Piet Van der Hoven, Chief Whip of the ANC congratulated Speaker Simmers in his new seat and said: “We want you to be an objective Speaker, and if that is the case, we will give you our full support”. Van der Hoven thanked Cllr Willemse for the professionalism, effectiveness and his success during his service as Speaker of Council.
In giving Speaker Simmers “some food for thought,” PBI’s Cllr Virgil Gericke referred to Section 160 subsection 8 of the Constitution which states that the proceedings of a council should be fair and consistent and said: “We stand here not for ourselves, but for those who cannot speak for themselves. We, therefore, wish you well on your way forward”.
The 2017/18; 2018/19; 2019/20 Multi-Year Budget and 2017/2018 – 2021/2022 Fourth Generation Integrated Development Plan were also discussed and approved during the meeting.
