DA caucus decides #DeLille fate

Cape Town - Cape Town’s DA caucus are on Wednesday evening locked in a meeting to decide the Mayor Patricia de Lille as the party’s hierarchy seeks to oust her over a myriad of complaints.

The party will decide De Lille’s fate in a meeting closed to the public. 

Earlier in the day, according to a leaked WhatsApp message from DA ward councillor Angus MacKenzie, the meeting to descended into chaos and had to be postponed as supporters and opponents of De Lille also came to blows.

The DA’s leadership in the council, and in the Western Cape have sought to see the back of De Lille charging that they had lost confidence in her because she had “divided” the caucus, and her “dictatorial” leadership style.

De Lille’s problems started in September last year after first disbanded the Cape Town metro police’s special investigative unit ostensibly because they had breached their mandate, and started investigating councillors. 

One of the claims, since spread anonymously was that De Lille had used ratepayers money to pay for security upgrades to her private home, a move council Speaker Dirk Smit insisted that she was entitled to.

In February the DA failed in its first attempt to axe De Lille when she survived the axe by one vote, through support from rebel DA councillors and all of the opposition. 

After the DA passed its “De Lille Clause” at its recent federal congress, efforts to remove her might be less complicated as the party foregoes the full council sitting for a decision to be made by the party’s caucus.

De Lille earlier on Wednesday slammed the reasons advanced by her party to oust her. She said communities and people on the ground still had confidence in her as the mayor of Cape Town. 

“I have had 25 community meetings this month. None of the community members I engaged with indicated that they have lost confidence in me. This begs the question whether the councillors, who say they have lost confidence in me, ever consulted with their communities. 

“Therefore, when they vote today they will be representing their jackets and for many of them it will be their own ambition which is the deciding factor on how they vote,” said De Lille. 

Political Bureau