Former Bellville CPF chair joins Sub-council 7

The former chairperson of the Bellville Community Police Forum (CPF) has taken an oath to serve the people in the precinct of Sub-council 7 with diligence.

Emre Uygun, 30, was sworn in on Monday as a proportional representative (PR) councillor of the Freedom Front Plus, replacing Grant Marais, who resigned last month to take a seat in the provincial legislature for the party.

This is the biggest sub-council in Cape Town, which is based in Durbanville, and consists of five wards in the northern agricultural areas of the City, including the residential areas north of the N2, bounded by the Tygerberg Hills.

Mr Uygun was raised in Kenilworth in the southern suburbs, the son of a South African mother and Turkish father, with three younger siblings.

He was the chairperson of the Bellville CPF from August last year until he resigned on Monday this week.

“I have recently been sworn in as a (proportional) councillor, a new responsibility that I am honoured to undertake. However, this position will prevent me from continuing as the CPF chairperson as outlined in the constitution,” he wrote in the resignation letter.

Mr Uygun started working as a part-time receptionist at a gym in 2012 before he finished his matric in 2013.

After that job he worked as a nutrition advisor and wellness assistant in different companies before joining the public sector in 2016, when he became a health promotions officer on the Cape Flats for the Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness.

Mr Uygun said he was later appointed as a Community Development Worker in July 2022 for the Department of Local Government in Grabouw in the Overberg region.

The provincial manager of the Freedom Front Plus, Erika Botha-Rossouw, congratulated Mr Uygun. “He is a huge asset to our team to deliver excellent service to the residents in the metro,” she said.

Sub-council 7 chairperson, Gerhard Fourie, said it was a normal procedure that any political party nominates their candidate from their PR list to fill a vacant position for the party.