City of Cape Town speaker retires after 45 years in public service

Alderman Dirk Smit will be retiring after 45 years in public service.

CAPE TOWN, April 29 (ANA) – The speaker for the Cape Town city council announced his retirement on Thursday during a full council meeting.

Alderman Dirk Smit will be retiring after 45 years in public service. He has been serving as speaker of the City of Cape Town since March 15, 2006, and chaired the SA Local Government Association’s (Salga) Speaker’s Forum of the Western Cape since May 2011.

Smit said it was an honour that during his tenure he could visit different municipalities across the country to assist them, especially their speakers, with processes and procedures.

He conveyed his gratitude and appreciation to every councillor for their input and co-operation over the years, saying that even though there had been differences and disagreements, nothing was ever too difficult to overcome.

Smit said he planned to spend his remaining years with his wife, Elna, and his family at his side.

During the virtual council meeting, executive deputy mayor Ian Neilson apologised for the absence of executive mayor Dan Plato and other councillors who were attending the funeral of late Alderman Monty Oliver.

Neilson thanked Smit for dedicated years of service and said his appointment in 2006 brought a signal of change for the future of the city council.

“During your time in the chair, you have conducted our council meetings with professionalism, gravitas, and flashes of humour that certainly livened up the proceedings.

“Presiding over a large multiparty council is no easy task, but yours has been a steady hand over the years, and you have managed to keep this ship on course, carefully steering us through seas both rough and smooth,” Neilson said.

A special council meeting chaired by the city manager will be held on May 21 at 10am, where a vote will take place to elect a new speaker.

– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher