A FUNERAL service for Buffalo City’s long-serving deputy mayor Des Halley was held at St Martins de Porress Catholic Church in Buffalo Flats on Monday.

The funeral service was followed by a cremation service at the Cambridge crematorium.

Dignitaries from the business sector, community leaders and political leaders including the Eastern Cape premier Nosimo Balindlela and African National Congress provincial deputy chairman Enoch Godongwana attended.

The 49-year-old Halley died of a heart attack on Wednesday, 4 August at the City Hall in East London, just days after resigning from the municipality to join the corporate world.

He was set to join Drimac outdoor clothing and Reactor watersport clothing manufacturers, National Converter Industries group as managing director of corporate services.

He was the chairman of the Industrial Development Zone and held positions in various housing committees around the municipality.