Cape Town - Tourism Minister and former Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille has been announced as the GOOD Party’s candidate for premier of the Western Cape.
Making the announcement yesterday, the party said De Lille, or Aunty Pat as she is fondly known, offered voters a “tried and tested leader”.
“With De Lille, voters can rest assured that she will not stop fighting until the work is done.
“Aunty Pat is the kind of leader that voters deserve to have in their corner.
“Her fight for a fairer South Africa started long before 1994 and it will continue long after 2024,” the party said.
De Lille has served as a Member of Parliament and chairperson of the portfolio committee on transport, and as MEC for Social Development in the Western Cape.
She is the only executive mayor of Cape Town, since 1994, to serve a full five-year term of office and then be re-elected with an increased majority.
While she was at the helm of the City, she obtained four consecutive clean audits.
In 2019, De Lille was appointed as national Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure.
In that position she cleaned up the department that had been riddled with corruption scandals and managed to accelerate the redistribution of public land.
When President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed her as the new Minister of Tourism last year, among De Lille’s first major tasks was cancelling the scandalous R1-billion Tottenham Hotspurs deal.
The GOOD Party said De Lille had the authority to get plans implemented swiftly.
“De Lille is the only woman to lead a politically represented party and is the only woman leader to have started two political parties which won seats in national, provincial and local government.
“GOOD proudly presents one of South Africa’s most competent and experienced political leaders to lead the Western Cape province and to get things done.”
De Lille said the party structures of GOOD selected her as the premier candidate based on her experience in government and her clear track record of service delivery.
“There is unfinished business in the province and I will continue to fight for a fairer Western Cape, just as I have been fighting for a fairer South Africa for most of my life,” she said.