MURRAY WILLIAMS and CLAYTON BARNES
Staff Writers
Mayor-elect Patricia de Lille and the DA are assembling a powerful new team to govern Cape Town, with key new lieutenants and ambassadors to implement their vision for the city.
However, the city’s ruling party is attempting to put in place not only a team that will deliver the highest possible levels of service to ratepayers, but also to serve as a “dream team” of whose success the DA will proudly boast in its 2014 election bid.
De Lille will be elected mayor at the newly elected 221-strong council’s first sitting on June 1, shortly after the first election, that of the next Speaker.
For the post of deputy mayor, the DA’s federal executive and De Lille are believed to wish to stick with one of the city’s top performers. The incumbent deputy, Ian Neilson, is widely respected for his understanding of what makes the city work, in terms of finances, legal frameworks and the highly complex bureaucratic arrangements that govern council and local government life.
As for the powerful mayoral committee, De Lille has said publicly she wants her top team to represent the demographics of Cape Town.
The DA also knows it has to undo, with this series of appointments, the public relations disaster that arose from Premier Helen Zille’s appointment of a largely white male provincial cabinet after the 2009 general elections.
A core of star performers is likely to remain on the Mayco: Neilson (currently executive deputy mayor; finance), Grant Pascoe (social services integration), JP Smith, (safety and security) and Belinda Walker (corporate services and human resources).
Already out of the reckoning are two outgoing Mayco members: Dumisani Ximbi (health), who formerly represented the UDM on the Mayco, has now joined the ANC, and Elizabeth Thompson (transport, roads and stormwater) did not stand for re-election.
It is not known what chances the remaining incumbents have, although the Cape Argus understands that questions have been raised about some of their performances. They are:
l Marian Nieuwoudt (planning and environment).
l Clive Justus (utility services).
l Shehaam Sims (housing, amenities and sport).
l Brett Herron (community services).
l Felicity Purchase (economic development and tourism).
It is believed that an option open to De Lille and the DA brains trust is rejigging some of the portfolios, specifically to serve the incoming leadership’s foremost political priorities: improve service delivery and grow the economy.
It has already been decided to strategically ensure that De Lille has a far higher public profile than outgoing mayor Dan Plato. While Plato worked tirelessly to ensure he was highly visible “on the ground” in communities, De Lille will add to this a far more powerful and wider public presence, especially through the media.
The DA has decided to bolster this opportunity with another key appointment, that of her spokesman.
While the DA relentlessly argues that its appointments are in accordance with the principle of “fit for purpose”, there is no doubt that race also matters to the party, insofar as it continues to attempt to broaden its appeal by transforming its image from a once dominantly white party.
It is likely that the job will go to a black African who is a rising star within the party with undoubted expertise, and who will simultaneously help to transform the “face of Cape Town” for the DA.
The Cape Argus believes this key appointment will go to Solly Malatsi, who is currently the spokesman for Transport and Public Works MEC Robin Carlisle.
Perhaps even more important is the appointment of Paul Boughey, one of the DA’s leading operatives, as De Lille’s chief of staff.
He leaves the provincial government where he served as head of ministry for Education MEC Donald Grant, but has also served as the head of parliamentary operations for the DA, among other high-impact positions for the party.
He will serve to offer De Lille the most powerful possible backing, running her political programme,unning her office and advising her.
For the sub-council chairs the DA has an opportunity to reward hard workers with some patronage – since salaries of sub-council chairs are significantly higher than those of normal councillors – and ensure the loyalty of its most valuable councillors for political reasons.
Meanwhile, two men who lost out in the DA’s mayoral race for Cape Town are being mooted as possible successors to De Lille when she leaves the provincial legislature.
She is currently the social development MEC.
Well-placed sources say DA metro chairman Pascoe and Plato top the list.
Zille is expected to make an announcement on this position in a week’s time, after the first council meeting.
Yesterday, both men said they were yet to be informed of their future in the party.
Plato and Pascoe appear on the DA’s proportional representative list for the City of Cape Town.
“I haven’t heard anything,” said Pascoe. “My personal preference would be to stay in the city, but the final decision lies with the federal executive.”
Plato said: “For now, I’m a councillor.”
Asked if he would take up the position of MEC if offered, he said: “No comment.”
Independent political commentator Daniel Silke said Zille would be “under pressure to make the right decision”.
“The DA has never really shied away from making appointments on talent and competence, rather than issues of representivity.”
Silke said Zille was under pressure to make the correct decision because more voters would be “watching the DA even closer” before the 2014 general elections.
But Professor Amanda Gouws of Stellenbosch University’s political studies unit said: “I don’t think she’s under pressure. She knows what she is doing and will base her decision on competence.”
Zille’s spokeswoman Trace Venter would not confirm or deny a reshuffle.
She said no discussions had taken place and that Zille would decide after De Lille was sworn in as mayor.
“There are no discussions happening at the moment,” said Venter.