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Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie. Photo: Edrea du Toit
- Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie has resigned as mayor of the Central Karoo District Municipality following his promise to leave the post after a year.
- McKenzie says he is leaving to focus on "greater challenges" such as "fixing the country".
- A farewell bash and celebration service to honour the end of his term as mayor was held over the weekend.
Patriotic Alliance (PA) leader Gayton McKenzie resigned as mayor of the Central Karoo District Municipality on Tuesday. The controversial mayor said in a publicised resignation letter he had fulfilled his mission in the municipality and would move on to "fixing the country".
McKenzie took over as mayor of the impoverished municipality in April last year and vowed to only stay in the job for a year. He has promised to contest the presidency in the 2024 general elections.
In his letter on Tuesday, McKenzie listed what he claimed were his achievements as mayor, including the complete removal of pit toilets and renovation of swimming pools.
He said they were able to assist and improve the lives of people in the Beaufort West municipality through fundraising rather than depending on budgets offered by the government.
"All the bucket toilets, pools, water solutions, and more were done using private money we fundraised.
"It demonstrated how it is possible to achieve great things without needing the kinds of budgets that officials shamelessly ask for. One must just be efficient and not lose money towards corruption at every step of the way."
McKenzie was in the spotlight recently after raising his hand to become Johannesburg mayor but was convinced to rethink his decision.
He said his experience as Karoo mayor changed him and would use it in his future endeavours.
"This is a lesson for all of us and one I will certainly be taking away from this experience myself. I came here to gain public service experience in my journey towards being ready to govern."
Under his administration, McKenzie said, R10 million had been paid monthly towards their Eskom debt, stating its collection rate had improved from 40 to 70%.
However, the DA in the municipality accused the PA of "perfecting corruption" following the deployment of its former councillor, Derick Welgemoed, who left the DA to join PA and was irregularly appointed as acting municipal manager.
A farewell bash to celebrate the end of McKenzie's term was hosted over the weekend at Rustdene Stadium, with artist Dr. Malinga, DJ Cleo, and Master KG performing.
PA deputy president Kenny Kunene was also present.
A series of posts on Twitter and Facebook showed a lot of people from the Karoo filling the stadium, cheering, and applauding the recently resigned mayor.
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