Nicholas Georg Myburgh (born 14 November 1962) is a South African farmer, lawyer and politician for the Democratic Alliance. He has been a Member of Parliament (MP) since 2021. Myburgh had previously served as the Executive Mayor of the Swellendam Local Municipality from 2011 to 2021.

Early life and education

Myburgh was born in Swellendam on 14 November 1962. He attended Swellendam Primary School, Western Province Preparatory School, and matriculated from Rondebosch Boys' High School in 1980 where he served as

head boy The two Senior Prefects, individually called Head Boy (for the male), and Head Girl (for the female) are students who carry leadership roles and are responsible for representing the school's entire student body. Although mostly out of use, in some ...

. He then studied at

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University (SU) (, ) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant university in Sub-Sahara ...

and earned the degrees BA (Law) and

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

(LLB). He served on various student bodies, inter alia as vice-chairperson of the university's Students' Representative Council (SRC).

Mayor of Swellendam

Myburgh has been a farmer in Swellendam for more than two decades. He joined the Democratic Alliance and was chosen as the party's mayoral candidate for the Swellendam Local Municipality ahead of the 2011 local government elections. No party won a majority seats on the municipal council and the DA then formed a coalition with the

African Christian Democratic Party The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) is a South African political party founded in 1993. It is a conservative Christian Christian party based on Biblical principles. The leader of the party is Kenneth Meshoe. Following the 2016 municipa ...

to govern the municipality. Myburgh was elected as Executive Mayor, succeeding Jan Jansen. During his first term as mayor, the Swellendam Local Municipality won the Auditor-General's Special Award for Most Improved Municipality in the Western Cape in 2014 having earned an Unqualified Audit Report in the wake of three consecutive Disclaimers. The municipality received its first clean audit in 2014/15, and retained their Clean Audit status throughout Myburgh's tenure as Mayor. The municipality won the National Govan Mbeki Housing Award for the Best Upgrade of Informal Settlement Programme in South Africa in 2015. In 2016, the municipality was ranked by 'Good Governance Africa’ and the

South African Institute of Race Relations The South African Institute of Race Relations (IRR) is a research and policy organisation in South Africa. The IRR was founded in 1929 to improve and report upon race relations in South Africa between the politically dominant White South Africa ...

as the country's Number 1 Municipality. Prior to the 2016 Local Government Elections (LGE), Myburgh was selected to be the DA's mayoral candidate for Swellendam again. The DA won an outright majority on the council, the first time in the municipality's history that a single party had won a majority of seats on the council. Myburgh was re-elected as Executive Mayor. Myburgh formerly served as chairman of the Swellendam Heritage Association and as the chairman of the DA's Swellendam Constituency Committee, and is currently a member of the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) of the DA. Myburgh formerly served on the DA's Provincial Disciplinary Committee as well as the

Board of Trustees A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

of the Drostdy Museum. Myburgh resigned as Executive Mayor and as a Councillor on 7 September 2021. Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) and the DA's mayoral candidate for the 2021 Local Government Elections Francois Du Rand was elected to replace him as mayor.

Parliamentary career

Myburgh had stood unsuccessfully for election to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. In September 2021, the DA announced that Myburgh would take up ex-DA MP Phumzile van Damme's seat in the National Assembly. He was sworn in on 8 September 2021, and serves on the Portfolio Committee for Water and Sanitation. Myburgh delivered his Maiden Speech on Friday 13 May 2022 during a virtual session of Parliament. He pointed out that the looming water crisis in the country is potentially far more serious than the failure of Escom, the state-owned national electricity supply company. He said "the DA wants the Department of Water & Sanitation to succeed because we want South Africa to succeed!". He concluded his speech by saying that the best investment the government can make is to ensure that every household and business in the country has reliable access to potable water.

Personal life

Myburgh is married to Sally. They have two sons and two daughters.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Myburgh, Nicholas Afrikaner people People from Swellendam 1962 births Living people Stellenbosch University alumni 20th-century South African lawyers South African farmers Democratic Alliance (South Africa) politicians Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2024–2029 Mayors of places in South Africa Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2019–2024