DA gives mayor ceremonial role

Reinstated Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille will act in a ceremonial role, with substantive governance decisions to be taken by the DA caucus, the party says.

Reinstated Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille will act in a ceremonial role, with substantive governance decisions to be taken by the DA caucus, the party said on Tuesday.

Natasha Mazzone, the DA’s deputy chairwoman of federal council, said it was inconceivable for the party to be expected to work with a mayor who had lost the confidence of two-thirds of the caucus.

De Lille returned to her office on Tuesday after the High Court in Cape Town ruled that it was in the best interests of service delivery to the city’s residents to avoid “musical chairs” in the council by maintaining the status quo pending the conclusion of court processes. However, the court noted that De Lille’s relationship with the party “has all but come to an end”.

“We are … concerned for the harm De Lille’s loss of office has for the people of Cape Town,” Judge Patrick Gamble said.

Mazzone said: “In true Zumalike style, De Lille is now clinging on to power for power itself. She has long forgotten the people who have voted for the party that she once represented.”

De Lille said it was up to the DA “to make a decision whether we continue to fight or we put the people of Cape Town first”.

The ANC in the Western Cape said the DA’s haste in attempting to remove De Lille “shows contempt for the rule of law, which the DA so often claims to be the champion of”.