Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille. Source: Twitter/Patricia de Lille

Home » DA: “We Have No Choice But to Remove Patricia De Lille as Mayor”

DA: “We Have No Choice But to Remove Patricia De Lille as Mayor”

The Federal Executive of the Democratic Alliance (DA) has authorised the DA caucus in the City of Cape Town to lodge a motion of no confidence in Mayor Patricia de Lille… citing various reasons, including that upgrades to her home were irregular, that she actively withheld drought crisis information and that the Party has “lost […]

By SAPeople
31-01-18 11:40
in Fab South African Stuff
Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille. Source: Twitter/Patricia de Lille

The Federal Executive of the Democratic Alliance (DA) has authorised the DA caucus in the City of Cape Town to lodge a motion of no confidence in Mayor Patricia de Lille… citing various reasons, including that upgrades to her home were irregular, that she actively withheld drought crisis information and that the Party has “lost faith in her leadership”.

Patricia de Lille. Source: Twitter/Patricia de Lille

In a press statement Wednesday the DA said: “It is therefore in the best interests of the people of Cape Town and good governance – given the threat that Patricia de Lille poses to both – that we have no choice but to remove her as the Mayor.”

The DA didn’t waste the opportunity to compare their decision to the ANC’s lack of action in removing Jacob Zuma as President of South Africa “due to the very obvious damage he has done to South Africa and his leading role in state capture and corruption. It is for similar reasons that the FedEx has authorised the caucus to vote for a motion to remove Patricia de Lille.”

The DA said that “for the first time in Cape Town’s history, a Council-mandated independent investigation took the view that the sitting Mayor had demonstrated behaviour and actions which constituted gross misconduct, gross dereliction of duty, and conduct that amounted to deceiving Council.”

These prima facie findings have been supported by the fact that the Auditor-General (AG) has downgraded the City’s audit status from clean, to unqualified with conditions, said the DA.

The DA said that with regards the Transport and Urban Development Authority (TDA), which the Mayor has publicly defended, the AG found poor consequence management of senior managers, consistent loss of revenue within the TDA, and irregular expenditure.

On upgrades to Mayor De Lille’s home, the AG – in the disclosure and listing of irregular expenditure in the financial statements – has, in fact, found that “upgrades to her home were irregular, exposing previous claims by the Mayor as blatantly false”.

The DA said: “It is intolerable for a sitting Mayor to mislead her party the people of Cape Town in such a deliberate manner.”

On the drought crisis, the DA accused the Mayor of actively withholding information, misdirecting officials, delaying budget decisions, interfering with project plans and undermining the rollout of augmentation projects as a result.

De Lille has not yet publicly reacted. In fact she was delivering a council speech in the past hour, in which she highlighted many of the accomplishments that the City of Cape Town has achieved.

The DA said: “Patricia de Lille has played an important role in South Africa’s democratic history. It is truly saddening that her conduct has forced us to act to remove her.”

So far reactions from DA supporters have been mixed – some welcoming the fight against corruption, others accusing the DA of “wanting to punish and crucify their members, but what about a warning or even forgiveness… They are not even asking for their voters’ opinion!”

One Cape Town resident, Warren Volkwyn, said: “I don’t get this move at all…(obviously politically motivated, I get that)… But shouldn’t an investigation be completed, and Patricia defend herself BEFORE any sort of “removal” takes place? I also think that if someone is being accused this publicly, they have the right to speak out against it – irrespective if it’s their party or not… After all of the strides in the last few years, this is what it’s come down to? Dirty politics – first Helen, now Patricia. Lots of thought needs to go into my choices for 2019…”

The DA also accused the ANC of engaging in “petty party politics” after the ANC in Cape Town withdrew their motion of no confidence against De Lille on Wednesday morning, where it was due to be debated in Council.