Mayor of Cape Town
| Mayor of Cape Town | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Style | The Honourable |
| Appointer | Cape Town City Council |
| Term length | Five years; renewable once consecutively |
| Inaugural holder | Michiel van Breda |
| Formation | 1840 |
| Website | Official Website |
| This article is part of a series on the |
| Politics of the Western Cape |
|---|
The mayor of Cape Town is the head of the local government of Cape Town, South Africa; currently that government takes the form of the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality.
The mayoral position was established on 7 December 2000.
In the past, the position of mayor has varied between that of an executive mayor actively governing the city and that of a figurehead mayor with a mostly ceremonial role. The current mayor is Geordin Hill-Lewis of the Democratic Alliance (DA).
Current office
This is a list of mayors of Cape Town in South Africa:
City of Cape Town (December 2000–present)
| Name and Image | Term of office | Political party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | December 2000 | November 2001 | Democratic Alliance | |
| Gerald Morkel | December 2001 | October 2002 | Democratic Alliance | |
_(cropped).jpg) | October 2002 | March 2006 | African National Congress | |
.jpg) | March 2006 | April 2009 | Democratic Alliance | |
| Grant Haskin (acting) | April 2009 | May 2009 | African Christian Democratic Party | |
 | May 2009 | May 2011 | Democratic Alliance | |
 | June 2011 | October 2018 | Democratic Alliance | |
.jpg) Ian Neilson (acting) | May 2018 October 2018 | May 2018 November 2018 | Democratic Alliance | |
| | November 2018 | October 2021 | Democratic Alliance | |
| | November 2021 | Incumbent | Democratic Alliance | |
Historic offices
Metropolitan Local Councils (June 1996–December 2000)
Cape Metropolitan Council (CMC)
- Attie Adriaanse (2000)[1] (NNP)
- Rev William Bantom (1996 - 2000) [2] (NNP)
City of Cape Town Municipality (Central Substructure)
City of Tygerberg Municipality (Tygerberg Substructure)
South Peninsula Municipality (Southern Substructure)
- John Oswald "OJ" Jacobs (1996 - 2000) (NNP)
Helderberg Municipality (Helderberg Substructure)
- James Matthews (1996 - 2000) (NNP)
Oostenberg Municipality (Eastern Substructure)
- Danny De La Cruz (1996 - 2000) (NNP)
Blaauwberg Municipality (Northern Substructure)
- Desmond Stoffberg (1999 - 2000) (NNP)
- Heather Maneveld (1997 - 1999) (NNP)
- Algene Ross (1996 - 1997) (NNP)
City of Cape Town Transitional Council (February 1995–June 1996)
- Rev William Bantom (1995 - 1996) (NP)
Mayors prior to nonracial dispensation
Cape Colony (1840-1910)
| Name | Term of office | Annotation | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | 1840 | 1844 | First Chairman of the Cape Town Municipality.[5] |
| J.J.L. Smuts | 1844 | 1848 | |
 | 1848 | 1860 | |
| Dirk Gysbert van Breda | 1860 | 1860 | First Term |
| Gilles J. de Korte | 1860 | 1862 | First Term |
| W. Herman | 1862 | 1863 | |
| Thomas Watson | 1863 | 1863 | |
| Joseph Barry | 1863 | 1865 | |
| Dirk Gysbert van Breda | 1865 | 1866 | Second Term |
| Gilles J. De Korte | 1866 | 1871 | Second term. Title changed from "chairman" to "mayor" in 1867. |
| Philip Stigant | 1871 | 1872 | First Term |
| Gilles J. de Korte | 1872 | 1874 | Third term |
| Philip Stigant | 1874 | 1875 | Second term |
| P.U. Leibbrandt | 1875 | 1876 | |
| Charles Lewis | 1876 | 1877 | First term |
| John Philip | 1877 | 1878 | |
 Jan Christoffel Hofmeyr | 1878 | 1879 | |
| Petrus Kotzé | 1879 | 1881 | |
| William Fleming | 1881 | 1883 | |
| Charles Lewis | 1883 | 1884 | Second term |
| Philip Stigant | 1884 | 1885 | Third term |
| Thomas Inglesby | 1885 | 1886 | Former honorary Colonel of the Cape Field Regiment[6] |
 John Woodhead | 1886 | 1887 | First term |
| Thomas O'Reilly | 1887 | 1888 | First Term |
| John Woodhead | 1888 | 1889 | Second Term |
 David Christiaan de Waal | 1880 | 1890 | |
 David Graaff | 1890 | 1892 | Later Minister of Public Works and Finance.[7] |
| Johan Mocke | 1892 | 1893 | |
| John Woodhead | 1893 | 1894 | Third term |
| George Smart | 1894 | 1895 | |
| James Attwell | 1895 | 1896 | |
| John Woodhead | 1896 | 1897 | Fourth term |
| Herman Boalch | 1897 | 1898 | Died in office |
| Thomas Ball | 1898 | 1900 | |
| Thomas O'Reilly | 1900 | 1901 | Second term |
 William Thorne | 1901 | 1904 | |
 Hyman Liberman | 1904 | 1907 | |
 William Duncan Baxter[8] | 1907 | 1908 | |
| Frank Smith | 1908 | 1912 | |
Union of South Africa (1910-1961)
| Name | Term of office | Annotation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frank Smith | 1908 | 1912 | |
| Harry Hands[9] | 1912 | 1913 | First term |
| John Parker | 1913 | 1915 | First Mayor of "Greater" Cape Town after surrounding municipalities had been incorporated into the city. |
| Harry Hands | 1915 | 1918 | Second term |
| William J. Thorne | 1918 | 1920 | |
| William Gardener | 1920 | 1922 | |
| Ryno J. Verster | 1922 | 1925 | |
| William Fish | 1925 | 1927 | |
| Andrew Reid | 1927 | 1929 | |
| Alfred Lewis | 1929 | 1931 | |
| Harry Stephan | 1931 | 1933 | |
| Louis Gradner | 1933 | 1935 | |
| James Low | 1935 | 1937 | |
| W.C. Foster | 1937 | 1939 | |
| Wilfred Brinton | 1939 | 1941 | |
| Walter James | 1941 | 1943 | |
| Ernest Nyman | 1943 | 1945 | |
| Abe Bloomberg | 1945 | 1947 | |
| Herbert Gearing | 1947 | 1949 | |
| Charles Booth | 1949 | 1951 | |
| Fritz Sonnenberg | 1951 | 1953 | |
| Arthur Keen | 1953 | 1955 | |
| Pieter Wolmarans | 1955 | 1957 | |
| John Orville Billingham | 1957 | 1959 | |
| Joyce Newton-Thompson | 1959 | 1961 | First female mayor |
Republic of South Africa (1961-1995)
| Name | Term of office | |
|---|---|---|
| Alfred Honikman | 1961 | 1963 |
| William Peters | 1963 | 1965 |
| Walter Gradner | 1965 | 1967 |
| Gerald Ferry | 1967 | 1969 |
| Jan Dommisse | 1969 | 1971 |
| Richard Friedlander | 1971 | 1973 |
| David Bloomberg | 1973 | 1975 |
| John Tyers | 1975 | 1977 |
| Edward Mauerberger | 1977 | 1979 |
| Louis Kreiner | 1979 | 1981 |
| M.J. Van Zyl | 1981 | 1983 |
| Sol Kreiner | 1983 | 1985 |
| Leon Markovitz | 1985 | 1987 |
| Peter Muller | 1987 | 1989 |
| Gordon Oliver[10][11] | 1989 | 1991 |
| Frank Van der Velde[4] | 1991 | 1993 |
| Clive Keegan[12] | 1993 | 1993 |
| Patricia Sulcas Kreiner | 1993 | 1995 |
See also
References
- ^ "Successor to porn-watching mayor elected". Independent Newspapers. 27 September 2000.
- ^ "Porn-watching mayor says sorry". Independent Newspapers. 12 September 2000.
- ^ Serra, Genevieve (9 July 2025). "Tributes to Theresa Solomon: A legacy of justice and community activism". IOL. Retrieved 10 July 2025.
- ^ a b Choruma, Shyleen (8 July 2025). "Ramaphosa mourns deaths of TWO former Cape Town mayors". The South African. Retrieved 10 July 2025.
- ^ Bredasdorp Archived 2003-03-20 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Gunners of The Cape - Neil Orpen
- ^ Union of South Africa
- ^ "William Duncan Baxter".
- ^ "Two Minutes of Silence and Poppies".
- ^ "Quotes about Cape Town mayoral system".
- ^ "Great Guides - Roddy Bray".
- ^ "Tribute to Clive Keegan, the banned activist who became a Cape Town mayor". Cape Argus. 30 March 2022. Retrieved 10 July 2025 – via PressReader.
