Fighting fractures DA council
Factionalism threatens to rip apart the DA in Cape Town following the latest public row between mayor Patricia de Lille and councillor JP Smith.
There is mounting unhappiness in the Cape Town caucus with De Lille’s leadership style and some members are lobbying for her removal.
The DA’s national leadership was in damage-control mode on Monday, moving quickly to place De Lille and Smith on special leave pending an internal investigation into the infighting and allegations levelled against the mayor.
The decision to place De Lille and Smith on leave affected only work for the party and not for the government or the council, said DA national spokeswoman Phumzile van Damme.
At the heart of the feud between De Lille and Smith is the mayor’s decision last week to clip the wings of Cape Town’s special investigative unit. It now operates as the internal investigations unit and may probe only corruption allegations against staff in the city’s safety and security directorate, which includes the metro police and law enforcement, instead of wider probes such as drug cases and murders of council staff.
The special investigative unit had fallen under the safety and security directorate, which is headed by Smith.
De Lille has clashed frequently with Smith. Insiders say the two are not on speaking terms. Earlier in 2017, De Lille wanted to move Smith out of his position as part of her restructuring process, but backtracked after the party’s national leadership intervened.
Smith reportedly said he was not consulted before the decision was taken to restructure the unit amid allegations that the move was prompted by rumours that the unit was probing irregularities relating to building work at De Lille’s home.
The city has said upgrades to De Lille’s home were related to safety equipment only, and not construction, which the mayor had personally paid for.
In a letter to DA leaders, Smith said the restructuring meant there was “reasonable suspicion” that if corruption was detected, nothing would happen to De Lille.
On Monday, De Lille issued a scathing statement, which she later retracted, saying she was consulting her lawyers about Smith’s “malicious and defamatory remarks”.
She wrote: “We all know that crime-fighting is the responsibility of the [South African Police Service] under national government. JP Smith wants to play cowboys and crooks by releasing all kinds of statements that the metro police is responsible for fighting crime.”