Cape Town - Today is D-day for four senior DA members to publicly apologise to outgoing Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille for sharing a fake auditor-general report on social media - a move De Lille said was an attempt to defame her.
De Lille has threatened legal action against DA branch executive Henk Hugo, KwaZulu-Natal DA deputy chairperson Shehana Kajee, DA deputy chief whip Mike Waters and National Council of Provinces MP Bronwynn Engelbrecht.
De Lille wrote a letter last week addressed to the four, saying she had instructed her attorneys to commence legal action against them in respect of the defamatory allegations, but before doing so, would like to afford them an opportunity to apologise to her in public.
She said she was aggrieved by the fact that it was done as part of a concerted effort to discredit her for political reasons.
Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu dismissed the content of the post as false. De Lille said she had turned to the DA’s internal structures for recourse in May.
“The party has a strict social media policy but did nothing,” she said.
De Lille said the four had until the end of business today to apologise.
Waters was not available for comment, while Engelbrecht did not respond to messages.
Kajee said: “All I can say at the moment is that I am awaiting further details.”