GOOD Party announces Patricia de Lille as Premier candidate

The GOOD Party announced Tourism Minister and former Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille as its candidate for Premier of the Western Cape on Wednesday. 

The party says de Lille is the only woman to lead a politically represented party and that she is a tried-and-true politician with the authority to implement plans swiftly.

“With de Lille, voters can rest assured that she will not stop fighting until the work is done. Aunty Pat is the kind of leader that voters deserve to have in their corner,” it said, according to the Independent Online.

DE LILLE, ONLY WOMAN TO START TWO POLITICAL PARTIES: GOOD PARTY

The party also said that Aunty Pat is the kind of leader that “voters deserve to have in their corner” because she’s one of South Africa’s most competent and experienced political leaders.

“De Lille is the only woman to lead a politically represented party and is the only woman leader to have started two political parties which won national, provincial, and local government seats.”

“GOOD proudly presents one of South Africa’s most competent and experienced political leaders to lead the Western Cape province and to get things done,” the GOOD Party said.

The publication said that de Lille is the only executive mayor of Cape Town since 1994 to serve a full five-year term of office and then be re-elected with an increased majority. While at the City’s helm, she obtained four consecutive clean audits.

DE LILLE, FOUNDER OF INDEPENDENT DEMOCRATS IN 2003

According to the University of Cape Town (UCT) web archives, de Lille was the founder and leader of the Independent Democrats (ID), a political party that she formed in 2003 during a floor-crossing window after she broke away from the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC).

In August 2010, the ID merged with the Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s official opposition, and the party was officially dissolved in 2014. From 2015 to 2017, she was the Provincial Leader of the Democratic Alliance in the Western Cape.

De Lille was selected as the DA’s mayoral candidate in Cape Town, defeating incumbent Dan Plato ahead of the 2011 local government elections, where she was elected mayor. She was re-elected to a second term as mayor in the 2016 local government elections.

‘UNFINISHED BUSINESS IN THE PROVINCE’

She was Mayor of Cape Town from 2011 to 2018 and Western Cape Provincial Minister of Social Development from 2010 to 2011. She is the current Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure and leader of the political party Good.

De Lille said the party structures of GOOD selected her as the premier candidate based on her experience in government and clean track record for service delivery.

“There is unfinished business in the province, and I will continue to fight for a fairer Western Cape, just as I have been fighting for a fairer South Africa for most of my life,” she said.