Cape Town - Renovations to Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille’s home were not irregular, according to the Auditor General, and she has opened her records to prove that she had paid for the home improvements out of her own pocket.
The Cape Argus can also exclusively reveal that the Auditor General (AG), in a management report of the City of Cape Town, said the expenditure on the upgrades at De Lille’s home did not need to be “disclosed as irregular expenditure as a result of non-compliance with supply chain management laws and regulations”.
De Lille invited the Cape Argus to view the renovations done to her Pinelands home.
The City paid R140139.98 for security gates in De Lille’s home. It also footed the bill for electric fencing.
Upgrades to her home were required after the police conducted a mandatory security assessment.
An amount of R720000 was budgeted for the upgrades, but De Lille refused the other, “excessive” security upgrades to her house.
City Council Speaker Dirk Smit previously said the full amount was not utilised.
“I have had this house since 1994 and I would like to retire here one day,” De Lille said yesterday. “The house is paid off and I decided some time ago to do some upgrades,” she said.
On the Trellidor security gates, the AG noted: “Installing other security products may have compromised the overall security brief as of the SAPS threat and risk report. The following of a competitive process would have necessitated site visits by prospective suppliers to the property. This would have compromised the security of the property by allowing “strangers” temporary access to the property.
“The price is competitive and good value for money in relation to the product installed, and is market related. Although cheaper and inferior products exist, they would not have been suitable to address the security needs.”
De Lille also gave the Cape Argus a list of bank payments in excess of R200000 for renovations she had paid for between 2016 and 2017.
The money was spent on electric gates, painting, the removal of her pool (due to water restrictions), brick paving, the extension of her study room and a granny flat her late mother lived in that was connected to the main house.
De Lille also converted an open carport in front of the house into a double garage.
Currently there are two investigations against De Lille - one in the DA, led by party chief whip John Steenhuisen and a second one by law firm Bowman Gilfillan investigating allegations of maladministration.
Steenhuisen investigated the political tensions in the Cape Town Caucus and allegations involving serious questions of good governance and maladministration.
“There were many faceless people who complained and made allegations. At times the there were no dates for the allegations that were made against me,” De Lille said.
The DA’s federal executive will meet on Sunday to consider De Lille’s submission on why she should not resign as mayor. In terms of the party’s procedures, a municipal mayor or other office bearer may be asked to resign following due process. If the DA leadership decides De Lille should resign, she would be informed, and if she refused to go, the federal executive would then have to instruct the City of Cape Town Caucus to support a motion of no confidence in her.
Should the decision go against her, De Lille would take “the appropriate action”.
Asked about the Bowman Gilfillan report, she said it contained a number of material factual errors and made highly prejudicial “findings”, “conclusions” and “recommendations”.
“Bowman Gilfillan reserved their right to amend the report should any information be brought to their attention which would impact the findings of their report,” she said.
De Lille then wrote a letter setting out the factual errors as they related to her.
What does the report say?
City manager Achmat Ebrahim claimed in his evidence that mayor Patricia de Lille and former executive director for corporate services, Gerhard Ras, stopped him from taking action against Melissa Whitehead, transport and urban development commissioner.
Mayco member for Transport Brett Herron is also implicated, as he was apparently present at meetings where the forensic report on bus chassis payments was discussed.
Ebrahim testified that he asked Ras to provide him with payment authority in writing, but that this never happened.
Ebrahim wrote to the head of the city’s forensics unit in December 2015, saying he had decided not to take action against any staff member and regarded the matter as closed.
Ras was paid a R3.5 million golden handshake by the city council in August 2016, for the early termination of his 5-year contract.
The Bowman Gilfillan report recommends that disciplinary action should be taken against Whitehead and Ebrahim.
De Lille and other councillors should be investigated in a separate probe, it recommended.
Whitehead was implicated, in an internal investigation by the city’s forensic unit, of irregular expenditure of R72m to Volvo and Scania.