Horatio Hendricks is a South African politician and former educator. He is the current Executive Mayor of the Kouga Local Municipality in the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

. Previously, he served as the speaker of the local municipality. Hendricks is a member of the Democratic Alliance (DA).

Life and career

Hendricks was born and grew up in Hillside,

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

. He received his teaching qualification from the old Vista University. He then proceeded to work as a teacher at Andrieskraal Primary School for 22 years and was principal for the last 12 years. Hendricks later became a member of the Democratic Alliance. He became a DA councillor in the

Cacadu District Municipality Sarah Baartman District Municipality (formerly Cacadu District Municipality) is situated in the western part of the Eastern Cape province, covering an area of 58 242 square kilometres. The area of the district municipality includes seven local m ...

(now the Sarah Baartman District Municipality) in 2009. He chaired the district's Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) from 2011 to 2012. Following the DA's victory in the Kouga Local Municipality in the 2016 local government elections, Hendricks was elected to serve as the municipality's council speaker for the 2016–2021 term. Executive Mayor

Elza van Lingen Elizabeth Christina "Elza" van Lingen (née Greeff; 26 November 1949 – 19 April 2018) was a South African politician. A member of the Democratic Alliance, she was elected a councillor of the Cacadu District Municipality in 2002. She was electe ...

died from cancer in April 2018. Hendricks was then elected as executive mayor while DA councillor Hattingh Bornman replaced Hendricks as council speaker. In June 2021, Hendricks wrote to the provincial government to have the municipality declared a disaster area due to the severe drought. In September 2021, Hendricks was announced as the DA's mayoral candidate for the Kouga municipality ahead of the local government elections on 1 November 2021. In October 2021, '' News24's'' Out of Order Index rated the Kouga Municipality as the best performing municipality in the Eastern Cape. The DA retained its outright majority on the municipal council on 1 November 2021. Hendricks was re-elected unopposed as mayor on 17 November 2021.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Horatio, Hendricks Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Coloured South African people People from the Eastern Cape South African educators Democratic Alliance (South Africa) politicians Mayors of places in South Africa