Twigg snaps over ‘De Lille’
Mayor hits back, saying DA‘s setting her up for failure
THE DA’s Cape Town leadership has rejected the proposed R49 billion budget and steep tariff increases of the very City it governs. But embattled Mayor Patricia de Lille, who has lost the confidence of her DA caucus, believes the party is setting her up for failure by misconstruing the City’s proposed budget as hers.
She says the DA City of Cape Town caucus had a workshop on the budget and had approved the draft budget to go out for comment.
Grant Twigg, DA metro chairperson, said in a statement they had “noted with concern” the various tariff increases proposed and its implications on residents.
Twigg, also a councillor, was part of the DA collective that approved the draft budget in council to go for public comment last month. He also took a veiled swipe at De Lille, accusing her of misusing public platforms to vilify officials.
“This budget is about the people of Cape Town. No leader should misuse public platforms to vilify officials and public representatives for political point-scoring.
“In the face of misleading statements of under-expenditure, it is important to recognise that final expenditure should be determined at the end of the financial year in June.
“Notwithstanding this, the City administration must ensure that all available funds must be spent by the end of the financial year for the betterment of all communities,” Twigg said.
De Lille dismissed Twigg’s statements on the budget as “absolute nonsense”. “The budget process is one which is prescribed by law. I would have hoped that by now councillor Twigg understood how council works but in his weak political game, he misleads the public with reckless comments. I am honestly shocked by the bizarre statement he issued.”
“The majority of residents have heeded the call of the City to save water, which we as the DA applaud,” he said.
Twigg said: “I am not playing a political game. This draft budget never came to us. There was a workshop on the budget and that was it. We could never give our comments on this. We (the DA metro executive) does not agree with it.”