Cape Town Mayor, Patricia de Lille has until the end of Wednesday, 2 May 2018 to make representations to the Democratic Alliance (DA) Federal Executive.
Last week, the DA caucus in Cape Town passed an internal motion of no confidence in de Lille. The caucus used the party’s newly adopted “accountability clause” to pass the motion. The Mayor, however, did not seem defeated by the motion of no confidence against her.
Following the vote, de Lille responded by posting a video on her official Twitter account with her wearing boxing gloves saying, “Next round! Let’s go!”
JP Smith, who is the deputy leader of the caucus told Political Analysis South Africa last month that the caucus had lost confidence in de Lille’s leadership abilities. He added that her utterances in the media regarding the party’s leadership had caused some members of the caucus to review their support of her.
In February this year de Lille survived a motion of no confidence against her in the city’s chambers after some members of the DA and members of the opposition voted to keep her.
The DA has accused de Lille of corruption, maladministration and governance failures. Among the allegations is that she had used the city’s funds to pay for private security upgrades at her residence. De Lille has denied these allegations and others saying that they have been levelled against her to “taint” her name.
Last week, political analyst, Prof. Sipho Seepe told Political Analysis South Africa that the relationship between de Lille and her party had broken down, irretrievably so. He added, however, that de Lille is an experienced politician, and would likely play a role in civil-society organisations or join another political party.
“Patricia de Lille is a political animal, and she’s also an activist. She will not stop being that. She could be part of the NGO’s or social movements. She could also join another political party. All that she has to do is to check where she has greater political influence,” he said.
Seepe added that de Lille could have greater position in a political party than a social movement because she could have more power.
“Being in a political party is better than being in a social movement because in a social movement you don’t control power and access to power enables you to make certain things happen rather than be always engaged with protest,” he said.
