Cape Town - Fairways resident and former Good Hope FM DJ and current CPUT lecturer Dmitri Jegels aims to highlight service delivery together with accessibility and accountability in his campaign as ANC councillor candidate for Ward 63, which includes parts of Ottery, Wynberg and Plumstead.
Jegels said his career in radio had been most rewarding, but 32 years in the business was long enough and with a fascination for language, he had pursued linguistics studies at UWC, which eventually lead to him securing a lecturing position in the Department of Linguistics at the Cape Peninsula University for Technology (CPUT).
“I am currently still in full time employment at CPUT, and as part of my activities in service of my community, both as chairperson of the Fairways Residents and Civic Association (Fresca) and as a member of the ANC Ward 63 branch, I now find myself as the ANC ward councillor candidate-designate for Ward 63,” said Jegels.
The former radio DJ said he has been increasingly alarmed at the slow pace of change and the challenge of corruption within the ranks, but when members of his branch approached him to stand, Jegels was reticent at first as he had always seen himself as serving in other capacities.
“However, in the spirit of the President’s call to ‘Thuma Mina’, I decided that it is not good enough to complain about the lack of integrity and dedication that is displayed by so many, and that it was therefore necessary for me to heed the call to serve, to step up, and to be the change that so many of us are calling for,” he said.
Jegels pledged that if elected he would focus over the next five years on the Greater Retreat Housing Project, as there had been no meaningful community participation in this project; the Wynberg Transport Interchange; equitable service delivery; community safety; skills development for youth; and a democratic functioning ward committee.
After working with Jegels in his capacity as chairperson of Fresca, Fairways resident and neighbourhood watch member Sean Isaacs said: “He’s a man that doesn't overpromise and under-deliver, definitely a well-standing community member.
“He has been with the Fairways Residents and Civic Association, which runs the community services quite well.”