Simon Grindrod

Simon Grindrod is the former National Deputy Leader of the Independent Democrats, former leader of its City of Cape Town caucus, a PR member of the Cape Town City Council, and a subcouncillor for Subcouncil 1 (Blaauwberg). He is also a former member of the Mayoral Committee for Economic and Social Development and Tourism.

Biography

Simon Grindrod was unanimously elected by the Independent Democrats (ID) as their Mayoral Candidate for the Cape Town Metro to represent them in the Local Government Elections of 2006. ID leader, Patricia De Lille, said that Simon was chosen because of his “strong management capabilities and financial skills.” When selected as Mayoral candidate, Simon was the General Manager of the Commodore and Portswood Hotels at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town.

In March 2006, he was elected as a City Councillor where he served on the Finance Portfolio Committee, the Sub-Council Boundary Committee and the Blaauwberg Sub-Council. In 2007, Grindrod was appointed as the Mayoral Committee Member for Economic, Social Development and Tourism and has the additional responsibility for Arts & Culture, Property Management and Informal Trading in Cape Town. He sits on the board of the Khayelitsha Community Trust in addition to the committees of several other community initiatives.

Grindrod has responsibility for City interests in Wesgro, Cape Town Tourism, Cape Film Commission, Convenco and Calling the Cape, which is an initiative driving growth in the call centre industry in Cape Town.

On November 21, 2008, Grindrod announced that he would join the newly formed opposition party, Congress of the People, in order to help unseat the African National Congress. He was subsequently elected to the National Executive Committee, declining a place on the National Assembly election list in favor of assisting with party building at a national level. The Congress of the People secured 31 MPs in the National Assembly in the 2009 General Election.

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