Cape Town - Mayor Patricia de Lille has won her battle against the DA after the Western Cape High Court ruled that the process the party used to axe her was unlawful.
Delivering his judgment, Judge Andre Le Grange said the DA appeared to be strained and confused. He said the right procedure was not followed as there were technical issues which the party had not attended to.
Le Grange also said that the DA, in some respects, did not follow its own Constitution. “I therefore rule that the DA’s action was unlawful and therefore invalid,” he said.
Earlier this year De Lille took the DA to court to test the constitutionality of the party’s cessation clause. The DA used this clause to axe De Lille, with whom it has been at loggerheads for a long time, in after she said that she would walk away from the party after “the process” during a radio interview.
#DeLille: Judgement in the High Court matter between the @Our_DA and @PatriciaDeLille is set to start at 9:30am. Courtroom is packed with journalists @IOL @TheCapeArgus pic.twitter.com/0K9DrHT9Tp
— JasonFelix (@JasonFelix) June 27, 2018
After the judgement, De Lille said: “I am relieved about all this. I got an opportunity to tell my story. This judgement means that the DA has to start their whole process over.”
Natasha Mazzone, DA federal council deputy chair, said they are considering an appeal of the judgement.
“We believe that there are certain issues that the court did not look at. There are serious reports that have not been considered. There was a greater focus on our internal issues and the case, and we don’t agree with that,” Mazzone said.
@JasonFelix
Cape Argus