Retief Odendaal (born 28 May 1982) is a South African politician who is serving as the Executive Mayor of

Nelson Mandela Bay Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality ( af, Nelson Mandelabaai Metropolitaanse Munisipaliteit; xh, uMasipala wase Nelson Mandela Bay or ''uMasipala waseBhayi'') is one of eight metropolitan municipalities (also called Category A municipalities) in So ...

since the 21st of September 2022. He was a

Member of the Provincial Legislature Member of the Provincial Legislature (MPL) is a title given to the members of eight of the nine Provincial legislature (South Africa), provincial legislatures in South Africa. The Constitution of the Western Cape, Western Cape provincial constitu ...

in the Eastern Cape for the Democratic Alliance and was the Shadow Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Finance, Rural Development and Agrarian Reform from May 2019 until August 2022.

Early life and education

Retief was born in the coastal city of Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape and attended Hoërskool Otto Du Plessis. He furthered his studies at Nelson Mandela University from 2001 to 2005. He obtained an LLB degree and did his articles at Delport, van Niekerk Attorneys. He is a practising attorney in

and a politician.

Political career

Retief Odendaal joined the DA in 2004. He is a founding member of the DA Youth in Nelson Mandela Bay which was founded in 2004. He became the Ward 6 Councillor in Nelson Mandela Bay in 2009 and served as the councillor until the

2016 South African municipal elections The 2016 South African municipal elections were held on 3 August 2016, to elect councils for all district, metropolitan and local municipalities in each of the country's nine provinces. It was the fifth municipal election held in South Africa ...

. Odendaal was also the leader of the opposition in Nelson Mandela Bay from 2014 to 2016. In 2016 when the DA became the largest party in Nelson Mandela Bay he was chosen by then-mayor Athol Trollip to serve as a Mayoral Committee Member (MMC) for Finance in Nelson Mandela Bay. He served in that position until the DA was ousted in 2018 by the ANC and their coalition partners on the 27th August 2018. Retief has been a member of the Democratic Alliance Federal Council since 2014 and was also elected as the chairperson of the Provincial Disciplinary Committee for the DA in the Eastern Cape. He also served as the deputy chairperson of the DA in the Eastern Cape from 2017 to 2019. After the

2019 South African general election 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 ...

he was elected as a

for the DA in the

Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature The Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature is the primary legislative body of the South African province of Eastern Cape. It is unicameral in its composition, and elects the premier and the provincial cabinet from among the members of the leading pa ...

. Shortly after the election, he was made the Shadow MEC for Finance, Rural Development and Agrarian Reform. Odendaal was elected as a councillor of Nelson Mandela Bay in the 2021 municipal elections, however, he declined the position. Odendaal's absence from the inaugural council meeting on 22 November 2021 led to the DA mayoral candidate Nqaba Bhanga losing to the ANC mayoral candidate Eugene Johnson by one vote. On 28 July 2022, the DA and other opposition parties signed a coalition agreement to remove the ANC-led alliance from power in Nelson Mandela Bay. The following day, Odendaal was announced as the DA's mayoral candidate for the metro. He resigned from the Provincial Legislature on 4 August 2022. On 21 September 2022 he was elected Executive Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay and the youngest person ever elected as mayor in Nelson Mandela Bay history.

Personal life

Retief is a fluent speaker of

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

and English. Retief married Anne-Marie Potgieter on 24 September 2010 in Port Elizabeth. They have three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odendaal, Retief Democratic Alliance (South Africa) politicians Members of the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature 1982 births People from Port Elizabeth Nelson Mandela University alumni Living people