Dan Plato

Activities prior to the Cape Town City Council

He has been involved in political activities since high school, particularly in Cape Town's northern suburbs.

As a community organiser, he played a major role in rallying people against the apartheid regime. In the mid-1980s, he worked in the Emergency Services Unit of the former Bellville Municipality (Tygerberg Administration), and he became the Cape Town Chairperson of the South African National Tuberculosis Association during the mid-1990s.

Cape Town City Councillor

In 1996, Plato was elected a ward councillor for Belhar, Uitsig and Ravensmead. He served two terms as Chairperson of the City of Cape Town's Economic Development, Tourism and Property Management Portfolio Committee and, from 2006 to 2009, held the Housing Portfolio in the Mayoral Committee. During this period, as Deputy Chairperson of the DA Metro Region and DA Caucus in the City of Cape Town, he had also served as Acting Executive Mayor at various intervals. Shortly before being elected Executive Mayor in May 2009, Plato had taken over as the Mayoral Committee Member responsible for Service Delivery and Economic Development.

Other activities

In addition to his political activities, he has served on the boards of a wide variety of organisations, including the Cape Film Commission, Cape Tourism, the University of the Western Cape and the Business Opportunities Network, and has been a member of multiple community-based trusts and has done campaign work for HIV/AIDS, women's rights and youth development.^[1]

Election as Mayor

Plato was elected Mayor of Cape Town in May 2009, when Helen Zille resigned to become Premier of Western Cape, since she was elected Premier in the general election, which took place in April 2009. He won with 119 votes to the ANC Candidate Belinda Landingwe's 69 votes, six councillors abstained. He was inaugurated on 12 May 2009.^[2]

Tenure

During his tenure as Mayor, controversial open air toilets were built in Makhaza, Khayelitsha. The Democratic Alliance defended its decision to build the toilets. The Western Cape High Court later ruled against it.^[3]

Under his leadership, Cape Town hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup as an host city. He banned the old South African flag from being present at matches at the Cape Town Stadium, because the flag is no longer the national flag of South Africa and that the flag is detrimental to the image of the country. Also, Cape Town was rated by the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs as the best managed city in South Africa. The city was estimated as the best in providing basic services and also announced as South Africa's number one tourist destination. The Auditor-General also awarded the city for good governance and accountability.^[4]

Plato introduced many job creation projects and made this one of the focus points of his mayoral agenda.

Replacement

In 2011, the Democratic Alliance announced that Patricia de Lille would be their candidate for the upcoming municipal elections. He left office on 1 June 2011.

Appointment

In May 2011, Western Cape Premier Helen Zille reshuffled her provincial cabinet and announced that Plato was appointed Provincial Minister for Community Safety, succeeding Albert Fritz. She said in a statement, "I am confident he will make a major contribution, not only to the community safety portfolio, but to the provincial cabinet as a whole."

He took office on 1 June 2011.^[5]

Tenure

In late 2011, Plato was present at a signing of a peace treaty between two rival gangs in Hanover Park, the Americans and the Mongrels. The Hanover Park Community Policing Forum reported in May 2012 that the peace treaty had ended.^[6]

In mid-June 2012, Plato said that some Western Cape police officials support the reinstatement of specialized gang units, since there had not been a police gang conviction in Hanover Park for more than three years. He said that the South African Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa does not favour the re-launch of the units, but he will keep on asking the Minister for the reinstatement. Meanwhile, Mayoral Committee member Jean-Pierre Smith said that the City of Cape Town's own gang unit had indeed been effective.^[7]

He also said that he was concerned about the police not making any further arrests relating to ATM bombings in the Western Cape.^[8]

Also in June 2012, Plato stated that he was eager to help the South African Police Service (SAPS) stabilise communities with high levels of gang violence in Cape Town.^[9]

A suspected thief was attacked and killed by Du Noons residents in July 2012. Plato responded by wanting to meet with Du Noons leaders. Plato visited the community of Lavender Hill in Cape Town in July 2012. He met with residents and said that it would take a number of years for the gang violence issue to be resolved.^[10][11]

In September 2012, Plato and the Provincial Ministry of Community Safety called for the reinstatement of specialised gang units. Plato had stated earlier the year that some provincial police officials favoured the re-established. Premier Helen Zille had written to President Jacob Zuma in July 2012, requesting that the South African Army should be deployed in gang-riddled communities. The Presidency later denied her request.^[12]

Also in September 2012, The Community Safety Department was one of four departments to get clean audits from the Auditor-General of South Africa. ^[13]

In December 2012, the Department of Police stated that it would counter the Western Cape Community Safety bill, if it was passed. The legislation would enable the Western Cape to monitor the police and establish an Ombudsman to probe service delivery complaints.^[14]

In March 2013, Plato visited the Kosovo informal settlement in Nyanga to meet with residents and discuss their safety concerns.^[15]

In July 2013, he called on the provincial police's top brass to intervene after a series of rape incidents involving police members occurred.^[16] Also in July, the ANC alleged that Plato had co-operated with gang leaders in the province and must resign immediately. The NPA later announced declined that they would prosecute Plato.^[17]

In November 2013, Plato launched the 16 Days of Activism campaign, aiming to end violence against women and children. During the campaign, he urged the public to report gender violence. Plato condemned the assault of a thief in Mitchells Plain.^[18][19][20]

In September 2014, the Community Safety Department announced the establishment of a task team to reduce number of illegal shebeens in Khayelitsha. Plato said that the request was made during the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry into Policing.^[21]

In November 2014, the Bonteheuwel Joint Peace Forum (JPF) called for more police officers to police the community of Bonteheuwel and accused Plato of not holding follow-up meetings.^[22]

In April 2015, Plato blamed substance abuse, along with poverty and police incompetency, as the reasons behind the Western Cape's rising crime rates. All these reasons were revealed in the Policing Needs and Priority Report.^[23]

In May 2015, Plato had written to the acting police commissioner about claims that some police stations were not facilitated to effectively function during loadshedding. Many complaints were received about the switch boards being out of operation during the blackouts.^[24]

In July 2015, he urged that the Crime Intelligence Unit (UCI) should create a new strategy to detect mob justice after two incidents of violence.^[25]

In September 2015, he criticized the Police Minister for not reintroducing gang and drug units. In May, Minister Nkosinathi Nhleko would be focusing more on the need to review specialized units, but later in a written reply he said that there was no intention of reinstating specialized units.^[26]

In October 2015, Plato said that the rise of vigilante killings is a cause for concern.He also said that more is to done in the addressing of the rise in mob justice attacks.^[27][28]

In December 2015, he praised the police for arresting alleged killers in Ocean View after several people had been murdered in the area.^[29]

In July 2016, he called for free and fair municipal elections, since some party members had been reported to be intimidated.^[30]

In May 2017, he urged communities to co-operate and work to protect women and children, after he attended the funeral of Courtney Pieters in Elsies River.^[31]

In October 2017, he stated that killings can't be tolerated anywhere in the Western Cape, after thousands of people staged a protest against farm murders.^[32]

In February 2018, Plato welcomed the corruption conviction of Arno Lamoer and three other officials, saying that crime and corruption doesn't have a place in the police force.^[33]

Announcement

In August 2018, Plato announced that he was a candidate to replace Patricia de Lille as Mayor of Cape Town, since she announced in August 2018 that she would resign on 31 October 2018.^[34]

On 18 September 2018, the Democratic Alliance announced that Plato will succeed De Lille. Plato has said that improving service will be his main priority as Mayor.^[35][36]

On 1 October 2018, he said in an interview with News24 that he plans to resolve division in the Democratic Alliance Cape Town Caucus and that he also plans to reshuffle and expand the Mayoral Committee.^[37]