Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
De Lille ‘getting advice and support from Zille’
Says premier is appalled at way party is treating her Family of Dusi champ murdered
OUSTED Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille has been getting advice and moral support from Western Cape Premier Helen Zille as she fights to keep her party membership and mayoral chain.
De Lille revealed this yesterday as she turned to the courts for interim relief after the DA kicked her out earlier this week.
“We have been speaking. To use Helen’s own words, she is appalled at how I have been treated. She said to me that the party cannot have disciplinary processes and at the same time bring a motion of no confidence against me,” said De Lille.
Zille is not in the country and could not be reached for comment.
The Cape High Court yesterday reserved judgment on an application by De Lille for an interim order to get her job back, but interdicted the Electoral Commission of South Africa from filling her vacancy on the city council.
This was after De Lille took on the DA and others in an effort to return to her post until a final determination was made by the same court on whether her dismissal from the party and her subsequent axing as mayor was unlawful or not.
De Lille was removed from office on Tuesday following a long-standing battle with the party’s leadership and after a fractious relationship between her and key members of the DA caucus in the City of Cape Town.
Yesterday’s court proceedings dealt with “Part A” of De Lille’s application to return to her post for two weeks until “Part B” of her application is dealt with.
During Part B, to be argued on May 25, De Lille is challenging the constitutional validity of the clause used to remove her from office.
Yesterday, De Lille’s advocate, Dali Mpofu, insisted that she was still a DA member, Cape Town mayor and a councillor because the DA’s cessation of her membership was unlawful.
Sean Rosenberg, counsel for the DA, contested this assertion, saying all proper processes had been followed in good faith when the decision was taken to axe her.
He said an interim interdict was “inappropriate”.
“She doesn’t seek to maintain the status quo, she seeks to reverse or rewind the status quo,” said Rosenberg. “Until such time as Part B of the (application) for relief is dealt with, the fact of the matter is the applicant is not a member of the DA, she is not a councillor and she is not the mayor.”Mpofu said the residents of Cape Town were in “limbo” as there was no functioning mayoral committee.
Mayco dissolved on Tuesday after DA Federal Executive chairperson James Selfe sent an email to the IEC informing it that De Lille was no longer a member of the party.
The drama stemmed from a radio interview De Lille had with Primedia talk show host Eusebius McKaiser in which she allegedly said she would resign from the DA once her name was cleared after several allegations of wrongdoing were made against her. This, according to the DA, constitutes prima facie evidence that De Lille intends to resign from the party.
According to Mpofu, the DA’s “internal machine” then set off an “unlawful process” which resulted in De Lille being ousted from the party, the council and the mayoral chair. THIS year’s Non-Stop Dusi Canoe Marathon champion, S’bonelo Khwela, is in mourning following the murder of two of his cousins at his Shongweni, KwaZulu-Natal home on Thursday night.
Khwela has appealed to the public for information that could lead to the arrest of two suspects.
Khwela said last night his 65-year-old grandmother had been home with the two boys, Nkosingiphile Vilakazi, 15, a Grade 10 pupil at Margot Fonteyn High School and Mxolisi Mzimela,18, a Grade 11 pupil at Thokozamnganga High School, when the incident happened.
“They were too young and I don’t believe they could have done anything to anyone for them to be killed in such a brutal manner,” said Khwela.
“As a family, we’re still very puzzled by this and we have our ears to the ground. We’re also asking the community to help with information because we want to know why this happened.”
Khwela’s uncle, Sandile Khwela, received a call from his mother shortly after the incident and said he had never imagined he would lose loved ones in such a way.
“My mother told me that she had been with the two boys in the family’s main home and at around 8.15 the two left for their room which is not in the main house. About five minutes after the boys left, my mom heard gunshots ringing.”
He said when his mother rushed out to investigate, she found the boys lying on the floor. Both were dead, one with six gunshot wounds while the other had seven.
The two are expected to be buried next week.
Police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala has urged those with any information to contact the local police or Crime Stop on 08600 10111.
She said the two teenagers who died on the scene had sustained injuries to the head and body.
Gwala said the motive for the killing was not known and Kwandengezi police were investigating two counts of murder.