TROUBLED MAYOR
De Lille gets boot, the fight goes on
THREE hours after she was booted out of the DA, former Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille vowed to fight the party, while the DA moved to allay fears of a leadership vacuum and announced Ian Neilson as acting mayor.
De Lille and the DA have been at loggerheads for months now over her alleged flouting of processes – an allegation that has not been proven.
And yesterday De Lille, who has stood her ground against the DA’s “bullying”, said she wants to interdict city manager Lungelo Mbandazayo from declaring a vacancy in the office of the mayor. She is also challenging the “accountability clause” recently introduced in the party’s constitution‚ saying it is unconstitutional and has been unfairly applied to her.
“I have not been found guilty of anything. They have tried to break me so many times‚” De Lille told a news conference in Cape Town.
De Lille vowed she would not take her ousting lying down. “I am ready to continue the fight‚” she said.
Earlier, DA federal council deputy chair Natasha Mazzone told media that the rift with De Lille was bad for the party’s relationship with voters.
Announcing that De Lille was no longer a party member after she declared in a radio interview that she was “walking away”‚ the DA said it apologised for the impact of the breakup on the city of Cape Town.
“We recognise we will need to rebuild trust with voters and will do our utmost to ensure we get back to the business of governing Cape Town. It’s no secret the DA has suffered immeasurable damage because of this issue due to the lack of information presented to our voters,” she said.
The DA’s unhappiness with De Lille surfaced in July‚ when mayoral committee member JP Smith submitted a report to party leader Mmusi Maimane and DA federal executive chairman James Selfe headed: “Complaint: Conduct of Patricia de Lille and state of governance in City of Cape Town council.”
Since then‚ the party has made numerous attempts to oust De Lille‚ and she has responded vigorously‚ including taking legal action.
Selfe said as a result of the DA federal legal commission decision that De Lille was no longer a party member‚ the disciplinary action against her would not proceed.
The price of De Lille’s radio interview with Eusebius McKaiser on CapeTalk on April 26 was her job‚ according to the DA.
Selfe said she indicated twice that she intended to resign from the party as soon as she had cleared her name.
“Ms De Lille was invited to explain why she had not‚ as a matter of fact‚ ceased to be a member by virtue of this section when she admitted that she intended to resign‚” said Selfe.
“She attempted to argue that this referred to resigning as mayor. Accordingly‚ the federal executive resolved last night to endorse the finding of the federal legal commission that her membership had ceased as of April 26‚ the date of the 702 interview. We have informed Ms de Lille and the city manager of this fact.”
Neilson‚ who had been De Lille’s deputy said it was business as usual at the city.
“The administration of the city is secure and we remain committed to the work we do to deliver services across the city‚” Neilson said.