Brett Herron (politician)

Last updated

Brett Herron
Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament
Designate
Assumed office
TBD
Alma mater
ProfessionPolitician

Brett Norton Herron (born 14 November 1966) is a South African politician and attorney who is an incoming member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament. He previously served in the house from May 2019 until February 2022. He also served as a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa from February 2022 to May 2024. Herron is the secretary-general of the GOOD party. He was the party's candidate for Mayor of Cape Town in the 2021 municipal elections.

Contents

Formerly a member of the Democratic Alliance and the Independent Democrats, he served as a mayoral committee member for transport and urban settlements from 2011 to 2018.

Early life and education

Herron was born and raised in Durban in the former Natal. His father was a member of Durban City Council. [1]

Herron obtained a Bachelor of Arts and an LLB from the University of Natal. He completed his articles of clerkship in Durban before being admitted as an attorney in 1994. Herron moved to New York City in 1998 and lived there until 2001. After returning to South Africa, he became director of the South African Law School. [2]

Herron graduated with a Master of Science in Cities from the London School of Economics in 2020.

Political career

Herron was a senior member of the Independent Democrats. In July 2008, he was elected policy convenor of the party's Cape Town metro district executive committee. [2] He was placed on the party's candidate lists for the 2009 general election and was elected to the Western Cape Provincial Parliament. However, the party gave his seat to Sarah Paulse, the sister of party leader Patricia de Lille. [3] Herron was then sworn in as a Cape Town city councillor for the ID. The ID announced its merger with the Democratic Alliance in October 2010 and Herron was given dual party membership.

After the 2011 municipal election, he was sworn in as a councillor for the DA. De Lille was elected mayor of Cape Town, and she appointed Herron as the mayoral committee member for transport and urban settlements. [4]

In August 2018, De Lille announced that she would resign as mayor at the end of October. Herron declared his candidacy for the post, but the DA selected Dan Plato. [5] On 1 November 2018, he resigned from council and from the DA. He was the ninth councillor to resign from the DA following De Lille's last address as mayor on 25 October. [6]

De Lille announced the formation of her new political party, Good, on 2 December. Herron was appointed as the party's inaugural secretary-general on 20 January 2019. [7]

Prior to the general election on 8 May 2019, he was second on the new party's provincial candidate list, second on the regional candidate list and fourth on the national candidate list. The party won one seat in the provincial parliament and Herron filled that seat on 22 May 2019. [8]

On 22 August 2021, Herron was announced as Good's mayoral candidate for the City of Cape Town for the municipal elections on 1 November 2021. [9] The DA retained their majority on the city council and Herron remained a member of the Provincial Parliament.

Parliamentary career

On 7 February 2022, the GOOD party released a statement in which they announced that Herron would be taking up GOOD MP Shaun August's seat in the National Assembly, while August would replace Herron in the Provincial Parliament in preparation for the party's 2024 election campaign. [10] [11] Herron was sworn in as a Member of the National Assembly on 8 February 2022. [12]

Herron was selected to take up Good's single seat in the Provincial Parliament following the 2024 general election. [13]

Personal life

Herron is openly gay. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia de Lille</span> South African politician

Patricia de Lille is a South African politician who is the current Minister of Tourism and leader of the political party Good. She served as Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure from 2019 to 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan Plato</span> Former mayor of Cape Town

Daniel Plato, known as Dan Plato, is a South African politician and a former Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament. He served from June 2011 until October 2018 and again from January 2022 until February 2024. He is the former mayor of Cape Town, a position he held for two nonconsecutive terms from May 2009 until June 2011 and again from November 2018 until October 2021. From June 2011 to October 2018, he was the Western Cape Provincial Minister of Community Safety.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian Neilson</span> Deputy mayor of Cape Town, South Africa

Ian Douglas Neilson is a South African civil engineer and politician who served as the Deputy Mayor of Cape Town from May 2009 to October 2021. He previously served as the Mayoral Committee Member for Finance from 2006 until 2016 and Executive Councillor for Safety and Health from 2000 until 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bonginkosi Madikizela</span> South African politician

Bonginkosi Success Madikizela is a South African politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geordin Hill-Lewis</span> South African politician and Mayor of Cape Town

Geordin Gwyn Hill-Lewis is a South African politician who is the Mayor of Cape Town. A member of the Democratic Alliance, he was elected mayor in November 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 South African general election</span>

General elections were held in South Africa on 8 May 2019 to elect a new President, National Assembly and provincial legislatures in each province. These were the sixth elections held since the end of apartheid in 1994 and determined who would become the next President of South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Good (political party)</span> Political party in South Africa

Good is a South African political party that was formed in December 2018. It is led by its founder Patricia de Lille, current Minister of Tourism and former mayor of Cape Town, who is also the party's sole member in the National Assembly. The party's stronghold is the Western Cape and mainly draws support from the Coloured community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 Western Cape provincial election</span> Election in South Africa

The 2019 Western Cape provincial election was held on 8 May 2019 to elect the 6th Western Cape Provincial Parliament. It was the sixth provincial election held since the establishment of the provincial legislature in 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Cape Town mayoral election</span> Held at Cape Town City Council on 6 November 2018

An indirect mayoral election was held at a special sitting of the Cape Town City Council on 6 November 2018 to determine the successor of former mayor Patricia de Lille after she resigned on 31 October. Former mayor and Provincial Minister of Community Safety, Dan Plato, of the Democratic Alliance won the election as the party holds a two-thirds majority in the city council.

Joseph Job McGluwa is a South African politician who was the leader of the Democratic Alliance in the North West province from 2015 to 2020. He has been a member of the National Assembly since 16 August 2018. He was previously in the National Assembly from 2009 to 2015. McGluwa was a member of the North West Provincial Legislature from 2015 to 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Political parties that contested the 2019 South African general election</span> Parties that contested the 2019 South African general election

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) announced on 20 March 2019 that a record number of 48 parties had registered candidates for the national parliamentary election. This is 19 more parties that contested the 2014 national elections. In the provincial legislature elections, the total number of parties registering candidates were:

Tertuis Alfred Simmers is a South African politician who has been serving as the Western Cape Provincial Minister of Infrastructure since April 2022. He previously served as the Western Cape Provincial Minister of Human Settlements from May 2019 to April 2022. He has been a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament since 2017. Simmers is a member of the Democratic Alliance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 South African municipal elections</span> South African municipal elections which were held on 1 November 2021

The 2021 South African Municipal Elections were held on 1 November 2021, to elect councils for all district, metropolitan and local municipalities in each of the country's nine provinces. Being the 6th municipal election held in South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994. These held - since then -every five years. The previous municipal elections were held in 2016. On 21 April 2021, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the elections to be held on Wednesday, 27 October 2021. It had been recommend by Dikgang Moseneke to delay the municipal elections until 2022. The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) requested the Constitutional Court to support the date postponement. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) supported the date postponement while the Democratic Alliance (DA) was against the postponement of the date. The Constitutional Court dismissed the application to postpone the date until 2022, ruling that they had to take place between 27 October and 1 November. On 9 September 2021, the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma announced that the elections would be held on 1 November.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gillion Bosman</span> South African politician

Gillion Bosman is a South African politician serving as both the chairperson of the Standing Committee on Social Development and the Petitions Committee in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament since June 2019. He became a member of the provincial parliament in May 2019 following the 2019 general election. He had formerly served as a municipal councillor of the City of Cape Town from August 2016 to May 2019. Bosman is a member of the governing Democratic Alliance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaun August</span> South African politician

Shaun Nigel August is a South African politician and former prison warden. He was a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa from May 2019 until February 2022 and a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament from February 2022 until his expulsion from Good in May 2023. He began his political career as a member of the Independent Democrats (ID). August was appointed as the party's deputy national organiser in 2006. August joined the Democratic Alliance (DA) when the ID merged with the party and served as the DA's chief whip in the City of Cape Town council from 2014 to 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Whitfield (politician)</span> South African politician

Andrew Grant Whitfield is a South African politician who is currently serving as Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition. He is also the provincial leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Eastern Cape.

Benedicta Maria van Minnen is a South African politician and a member of the Democratic Alliance. She has been a member of the Western Cape Provincial. Previously, she served as a councillor in the City of Cape Town and as a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa.

Bronwynn Anne Engelbrecht is a South African politician and pharmacist. A member of the Democratic Alliance, Engelbrecht served as the DA City of Tshwane ward 42 councillor until 2015 when she was appointed as a Permanent Delegate to the National Council of Provinces from Gauteng. After leaving parliament in 2019, Engelbrecht returned to the Tshwane city council as a DA PR councillor. In February 2021 she was sworn in as a member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.

Tandeka Gqada is a South African businesswoman, politician and a councillor for the Democratic Alliance in the City of Cape Town since November 2021. Gqada had previously served as a DA councillor in the City of Cape Town where she was an Executive Member of the Mayoral Committee. She is a former Member of Parliament for the DA (2014–2019). She served as the Shadow Deputy Minister of Human Settlements from 2014 to 2017 and as the Shadow Deputy Minister of Energy from 2017 to 2019.

Sarah Unes Paulse is a South African politician who served in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament from 2004 until 2010 and in the National Assembly of South Africa from 2010 until 2014 as a member of the Independent Democrats. She is a sister of Patricia de Lille, the current leader of Good and the former leader of the Independent Democrats.

References

  1. Dordley, Lucinda (4 September 2018). "Brett Herron throws hat in the ring to be mayor". www.capetownetc.com. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  2. 1 2 De Lille, Patricia (1 March 2009). "The ID's top ten candidates". Politicsweb. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  3. Williams, Murray (14 May 2009). "ID justifies exclusion of top Cape candidate". IOL. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  4. "De Lille names mayoral committee". News24. Cape Town. 27 May 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  5. Chambers, Dave (4 September 2020). "De Lille ally Herron sets sights on Cape Town mayoral office". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  6. Payne, Suné (1 November 2018). "Brett Herron becomes the ninth councillor to quit the DA as mayor-elect Dan Plato is sworn in as councillor". The Daily Maverick. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  7. "De Lille's GOOD party constitutes interim national leadership". IOL. Cape Town. 20 January 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  8. Lepule, Tshego (12 May 2019). "New mix in Western Cape legislature". IOL. Cape Town. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  9. Persens, Lizell (22 August 2021). "Good Party announces Brett Herron as mayoral candidate for CoCT". Eyewitness News. Cape Town. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  10. "Project 2024: Brett Herron moves to National Assembly while Shaun August moves to Western Cape Provincial Parliament". For Good. 7 February 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  11. "GOOD's Brett Herron resigns from provincial legislature to move to National Assembly". www.iol.co.za. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  12. "@ParliamentofRSA welcomes @brettherron to the National Assembly..." Twitter. 8 February 2022. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
  13. Charles, Marvin. "Western Cape legislature to usher in new faces in major shake-up". News24. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
  14. Herron, Brett (24 February 2020). "Cape Town Pride: Brett Herron talks about being openly gay and LGBTQ+ rights". IOL News. Retrieved 24 September 2020.