In his first move as mayor, Dan Plato has included five women in his mayoral executive committee (mayco), describing most of his new team as "old hands, eager to get to work".
Asked whether he had taken the gender composition of his executive team into account, following the row about Premier Helen Zille's all-male cabinet, Plato said competence was the only requirement.
Felicity Purchase, former mayor of the South Peninsula Municipality, takes over as mayco member for economic development and tourism from Ian Neilson.
Grant Pascoe has been tasked with social services, with responsibilities including the "destitute, disabled and gender and social upliftment".
Dumisani Ximbi, the United Democratic Movement's sole member of the council, has been moved from safety and security to health.
JP Smith takes over the safety and security portfolio, and according to Plato will have to ensure the city liaises with the SA Police Service on 2010 World Cup security issues.
The rest of the mayco are: Gerhard Ras (community services), Belinda Walker (corporate services), Clive Justus (utility services), Elizabeth Thompson (transport, roads, and stormwater), Shehaam Sims (housing), Ian Neilson (finance), Marian Nieuwoudt (planning and environment).
Neilson is also expected to become deputy mayor to replace the ACDP's Grant Haskin who will be removed on May 27 after the DA said it would call for a vote
of no-confidence.
This comes after Helen Zille accused the ACDP's provincial leadership of conspiring with other parties to overthrow the DA-led city council.
On Sunday night the ACDP caucus in the city council sent an open letter to the DA accusing it of "below-the-belt bullying" in its plans to get rid of Haskin.
Asked about the turmoil between the two coalition partners, Plato said he would not get involved in the issues between Zille and the ACDP's leadership. But he acknowledged that it was a political decision.
"Some of the issues are not local. It's broader than that. All political parties receive their directives from national level," Plato said of the decision.
Plato said the exclusion of the Universal Party (UP) and its sole councillor Martin Fienies from mayco was understood after the party recently received only 599 votes in the provincial election.
Leader of the ANC caucus in the city council, Peter Gabriel, said the DA had used its coalition partners, especially the ACDP and the UP.
"The message to small parties is clear, that they can't really trust the DA because they can be dropped at any moment," said Gabriel.
He added that the composition of the mayco was still loaded in favour of whites which defied the demographics of the city. "Them keeping Ximbi is only for them to have a token black in a position," said Gabriel.
