Cape Argus E-dition

What you didn’t know about Eddie Andrews

NAKEDI NGAKA Nakedi.Ngaka@inl.co.za

INSTEAD of spoiling his wife with a braai for their anniversary, as he usually does, new deputy mayor of Cape Town Eddie Andrews will be executing official duties.

Speaking at a conference is among his first duties in his new role as a public servant and it falls on his 22nd wedding anniversary

Andrews, a family man, said while there are constraints to being a public servant, he will make it up to his wife after his duties.

“Constraints as a public servant will have me working in the morning on my anniversary day, but we will be going out for dinner in the evening.

“Before I applied for my position, we had a conversation about the possibility of time constraints. You have to be jealous with your time so you can be available to be with your family.”

Andrews was born on March 18, 1977 in Cape Town and graduated from Steenberg High School.

Before he went into politics, he was a professional rugby player and played for the Springboks.

He played his first game in 2004. “I was only 27, I was singing the national anthem and I was crying – the reason being, I stood there and I realised not only am I representing myself there, but I am also representing my entire family and community, and I am also representing the hopes

and aspirations of every single child growing up in the Cape Flats.’’

He retired from professional rugby in 2007 due to spinal stenosis complicated by a recurring back injury.

Andrews later joined the DA and was elected to the Cape Town city council. He shared his motivation for continuing to be in politics, reflecting on his childhood, growing up in the Cape Flats. He strives for all people to be successful.

“Was it always my aspiration to be

the deputy mayor? No it wasn’t.

“This is a consequence of being responsive and wanting to do more for the citizens of Cape Town,” he said.

Andrews is the first individual in his family to be involved in politics.

Outside of politics, he is a husband and father of three.

He goes to church on Sundays, and on outings with family, because Sundays are mostly days where he has fewer office responsibilities as a civil servant. He has two daughters, aged 13 and 19, and a 16-year-old son.

“I enjoy going for a run with my family. We also cycle a lot and love walking in the park with our dogs, it could be Silvermine Park or another close by.”

The Mitchells Plain boytjie said he looked up to anyone who “grinds a way in times of adversity”.

He refers to a quote by author John C Maxwell: “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”

Former employee and community liaison officer Jolene Abrahams said she remembers Andrews as a hard-working and dedicated leader who always strived for change.

“One of the good programmes he established is Decision Affects Destinies, a youth mentorship programme where they took young people to become responsible young adults and kept them away from drugs and gangsterism. There are success stories from the programme because some youth members graduated to become teachers and lawyers,” she said.

Portland High School, where the programme was introduced in 2016, said it was impressed by its results.

Andrews said he would like to be remembered as a person who was genuinely sincere about the work he was doing: “Someone who really cared and was able to communicate and deliver services in a caring manner. Someone who was the same at the office, at home, at church and in public.”

METRO

en-za

2021-11-27T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-11-27T08:00:00.0000000Z

http://capeargus.pressreader.com/article/281578063933704

African News Agency