Succeeded by Ian Neilson Name Grant Haskin Occupation Councillor | Children 1 Nationality South African | |
Political party African Christian Democratic Party Alma mater University of the Western Cape Education University of the Western Cape Party African Christian Democratic Party | ||
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Grant Haskin (born 1968) is the former Executive Deputy Mayor of Cape Town, where he also served briefly as acting Mayor City of Cape Town, South Africa.
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Early life and Schooling
Grant was born in Camps Bay, a suburb on Cape Towns Atlantic coast. The family later moved to Wynberg in Cape Town's Southern suburbs. He was enrolled at Wynberg Boys Junior and High School, matriculating in 1986
Career
Grant became a member of the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) in late 1998, serving as an unpaid volunteer at the party's Western Cape provincial office until the June 1999 National General Elections. In July 1999, Grant was elected Provincial Secretary General at the Provincial General Conference, a position he held until the PGC in 2005. In the December 2000 Local Government Elections, he was elected ACDP Councillor in the City of Cape Town and the 7-member party Caucus elected him as their Caucus Chair. At the 2004 National General Elections, Grant was elected to the Western Cape Provincial Parliament as an MPP (Member of Provincial Parliament) At the ACDP Provincial Conference in 2005 he was elected Western Cape Provincial Chairman. He also headed the ACDP's provincial campaign for the 2006 Local Government Elections
As Provincial Chairman he played a key role for the party when it challenged the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in the Western Cape High Court and the Electoral Court on their decision to exclude it from contesting the Local Government Elections on 01 March 2006. Ultimately the case went to the Constitutional Court where the party won the case five days before Election Day, forcing the IEC to print new ballot papers and allowing the party just a few days to campaign.
Grant played another key role in the formation and success of the government of the City of Cape Town, after no one party won a majority in the Category:City of Cape Town elections The final results for that election in the City of Cape Town were that the Democratic Alliance won 90 seats and African National Congress 81, but at least 106 seats were needed to form a government in the 210 seats council. Grant chaired the ACDP's negotiating team which first brought seven smaller parties together to form a king-maker block of 16 councillors forming the "Multiparty Forum" chaired by the ACDP. After much discussion, this MPF block then agreed to work with the DA in a multi-party government (MPG), rather than with the African National Congress/Independent Democrat alliance. The MPG was elected with a majority of one seat, an historic first for democratic South Africa, with the ACDP elected as Executive Deputy Mayor of Cape Town and to two Subcouncil Chair posts.
The MPG survived until January 2007 when the DA Mayor expelled the African Muslim Party for colluding with the ANC behind the MPG's back. In so doing, the MPG lost its slim majority. That same day however, Grant convened an ACDP meeting resulting in the ACDP offering its post of Executive Deputy Mayor to the Independent Democrats (ID) if they joined the MPG. This move brought stability to the MPG which now had a comfortable majority of 122 out of 210 council seats.
Among other successes,this team ensured the election of the ACDP as Executive Deputy Mayor of Cape Town and two Subcouncil Chair posts. Following a period of political uncertainty in the governing multiparty coalition, the ACDP offered this post to the Independent Democrats (ID) so as to secure the majority. In March 2007, the ACDP redeployed him to Councillor in the City of Cape Town to take up the ACDP's seat on the Mayoral Committee as political head of Amenities and Sport[2].
After the 'walk-over window period' in September 2007 and the ensuing negotiation process with the DA on the ACDP's claim to regain the Executive Deputy Mayors seat, he was elected Executive Deputy Mayor of Cape Town. He served as acting Executive Mayor of Cape Town for a brief period after Mayor Helen Zille was elected Premier-elect of the Western Cape.. This success also prompted the DA to ditch its coalition partners including the ACDP, who had helped them achieve this success. During his term as Executive Deputy Mayor of Cape Town, he was political head of the City's policies and programmes on, inter alia, substance abuse, street people, orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and international relations, opening South Africa's first municipal-run Outpatient Treatment Centres for substance abuse, and another South African first, a municipal-run toll-free referral helpline for substance abuse. He also chaired the City's 2010 Steering Committee tasked with preparing Cape Town as a Host City for the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
His term as Executive Deputy Mayor ended abruptly on 27 May 2009 when the Democratic Alliance ended its 5 year contractual agreement with the ACDP prematurely., announcing it would break its contractual agreement with the ACDP because they wished to have one of their own members holding his post so that they 'could be as effective as possible, politically'. But, while this was their stated reason, they then attempted to blame the ACDP, citing 'breaches of trust', which were never substantiated and thOroughly refuted by the ACDP and withdrawing from coalition with the DA in all municipalities.. Ultimately, the DA confirmed their axing of the ACDP was a political decision taken to ensure further DA growth.
During the subsequent term as caucus leader for the ACDP, he also completed his B.A. Honours degree in International Relations (Political Science) at the Category:University of the Western Cape (UWC). As a result of the 18 May 2011 Local Government Elections, he was re-elected councillor for the City of Cape Town where he remained the Caucus leader. In April 2012 the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) redeployed him to the WC Provincial Parliament as Member of Provincial Parliament until the 2014 National General Elections.
While there he was elected as Chair of SCOPA (Standing Committee on Public Accounts), a post he held until the 2014 National General Elections.
In December 2013 he was elected Chair of the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP)'s national Federal Council of Provinces (FCOP) - a post he still holds. As a result of holding this post he became a member of the ACDP's National Executive Committee (NEC).
In July 2014 he was appointed the National Elections Manager for the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) for the 2016 Local Government Elections, a second NEC post.
Following these 2014 elections he returned once more to the City of Cape Town as councillor and caucus leader for the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), a post he held until January 2016 when he resigned on request of the ACDP to take up a newly created national post, being the Media and Communications Director - his third concurrent NEC post.
Following the 3 August 2016 Local Government Elections, Grant was re-elected City Councillor and Caucus Leader.
In October that same year he vacated two of the three NEC posts he held, viz: National Elections Manager and Media & Communications Director.