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Retief Odendaal

Retief Odendaal

Retief Odendaal is a South African attorney and Democratic Alliance politician, a councillor in Nelson Mandela Bay since 2009 and the metro's mayor from September 2022 to May 2023.

Party
Democratic Alliance
Political position

Centre-right · Where sources place the party (Democratic Alliance)
Wikipedia: centre to centre-right (Democratic Alliance)
Ideology: liberalism

37%Probability · Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay (Port Elizabeth)?

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▼3 pts
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(in 28 days)

He is the DA's Shadow MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs in the Eastern Cape Legislature. He is the Democratic Alliance's candidate for Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay in the 2026 municipal election, announced in May 2025.

Career

Odendaal grew up in Algoa Park, studied at Nelson Mandela University and qualified as an attorney. He was elected a Nelson Mandela Bay councillor in 2009 at age 27. He became mayor in September 2022 at the head of a ten-party coalition; a vote of no confidence removed him in May 2023 after about nine months. During his term the metro received its first unqualified audit in twelve years. He now sits as the DA's Shadow MEC for CoGTA in the Eastern Cape Legislature.

Positions

His 2026 campaign pledges, as Daily Maverick reports them, are zero tolerance for corruption and incompetence, an audit of tender agreements and supply-chain management, working camera networks, task forces against gang violence, cable theft and kidnapping, and more resources for metro police, traffic officers and neighbourhood watches. Reference works place his party, the DA, at the centre to centre-right.

Summarised automatically from the linked sources. Daily Maverick · The Herald · Wikipedia

  1. Retief Odendaal 37%
100%50%0%

Aug 19Sep 12Oct 7

Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay (Port Elizabeth)?

OutcomeLeft – RightProbability
Retief OdendaalCentre-right37%
Andile Lungisa22%
Babalwa LobisheCentre16%
Xolani VelaCentre6%
Sinawo Thambo6%
Wandisile Jikeka4%
Siva Pillay2%
Ntombi NamaCentre<1%
Bulelwa Mafaya<1%

All 9 outcomes

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