Executive Mayor Dan Plato has been involved in political activities since high school, particularly in Ravensmead and surrounding areas of Cape Town’s northern suburbs. As a community organiser, he played a major role in rallying people against the former apartheid regime. From the mid 1980s, he worked in the Emergency Services Unit of the former Bellville Municipality (Tygerberg Administration), and was the Cape Town chairperson of the South African National Tuberculosis Association in the mid 1990s.

In 1996 Plato become a councillor and fulltime politician. He served two terms as chairperson of the City of Cape Town’s Economic Development, Tourism and Property Management portfolio committee and from 2006 to 2009 held the Housing portfolio in the Mayoral Committee. During this period, as Deputy Chairperson of the DA Metro Region and DA Caucus in the City of Cape Town, he served as Acting Executive Mayor at various intervals. Just before being elected Executive Mayor in May 2009, Plato had taken over as Mayoral Committee Member responsible for Service Delivery and Economic Development.

In addition to his political work, Plato has served on the boards of a wide variety of organisations, including the Cape Film Commission, Cape Tourism, the University of the Western Cape and the Business Opportunities Network, as well as being a member of various community-based trusts and working as an HIV and Aids, and women and youth development campaigner.

Curriculum Vitae: Dan Plato