De Lille clinging to job as ANC drops its motion

Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille kept her job by a thread on Wednesday as the infighting in the DA in the Western Cape got uglier.

In a bizarre twist, the ANC in the Cape Town council abruptly withdrew its motion of no confidence against the mayor and accused the DA of hijacking its motion and using De Lille as “a sacrificial lamb”.

This was after the DA said in a surprise move that it would support the ANC’s motion of no confidence in De Lille.

The ANC has long called for De Lille’s sacking, claiming corruption and tender irregularities on her watch.

The ANC said the poor handling of the drought and the decision by the auditor-general to downgrade the city’s audit findings from clean to unqualified should be blamed on the entire DA administration and not just on De Lille.

“The DA wants to opportunistically hijack the motion of no confidence brought by the ANC against De Lille to resolve their own internal squabbles over resources linked to the city’s water crisis,” said ANC spokeswoman Khusela Diko. Luthuli House supported the call by the ANC’s Cape Town council caucus for the national government to intervene in the city, said Diko.

DA Western Cape leader Bonginkosi Madikizela criticised the ANC’s withdrawal, saying that the opposition party had “demonstrated today that they would much rather engage in petty party politics than do what is best for the people of Cape Town”.

Last week, the DA caucus decided by 84-59 votes that it had lost confidence in De Lille. The issue was then referred to the federal executive, the party’s highest decision making body, which had to make the final call on the best course of action.

The federal executive then mandated the DA caucus to support the ANC’s motion.

Madikizela said the DA had now tabled its own motion of no confidence against De Lille, which should be debated within 10 days of its submission to the speaker of council.

De Lille said that the federal executive had earlier in January resolved that it would not be supporting a motion of no confidence in her until the conclusion of the investigation by the federal legal commission and the City of Cape Town into the allegations against her.