DA branches in the Cape Town metro have slammed their regional chairperson, Grant Twigg, saying he had no mandate to call for the removal of under-fire Mayor Patricia de Lille.
This after Twigg released a statement on Wednesday announcing a “unanimous” decision by the party’s regional executive to remove De Lille.
DA councillor Vuyokazi Matanzima said they were not properly consulted on the
matter, and only heard about it from the media.
“I was shocked to hear on the news that a caucus was sitting somewhere. I’m not sure whether it sat or not but I
was never part of it,” said Matanzima.
De Lille has called on the DA’s regional executive to provide proof of their meeting with branches and their
mandate.
The DA chief whip in the City of Cape Town, Shaun August, said he also received messages and calls from branches that denied having given Twigg a mandate to call for De Lille’s removal.
“I have received calls from many of our members saying they have not given the mandate to Grant Twigg, and have not engaged or consulted, and they refuse to vote against the mayor and are certainly against the decision that Grant and his executive took,” said August.
Councillors who spoke on condition of anonymity expressed dissatisfaction over the manner in which the party was handling De Lille’s case.
“I thought at this stage we were supposed to follow the processes. Remember, we have structures in place, so we were waiting for the outcome of the investigation. However, the (DA) Federal Executive, which is the highest structure, is the one that was supposed to give us direction to say this is the outcome of the investigation and where do we go from here,” said Matanzima.
A DA member in council who spoke on condition of anonymity said Twigg was jumping the gun and personalising the matter.
Twigg had formerly been the DA’s caucus chairperson in the City, but was demoted by De Lille in favour of August, who also became the party’s leader in the metro when his predecessor, Grant Pascoe, defected to the ANC in 2014.
During the period when De Lille was given an extension to provide reasons to the federal executive, Twigg said, in reply to a Facebook post:
“I really don’t know why some people get so many extensions, while others just have to accept what comes their way.”
Apart from a series of reports, including the Bowman Gilfillan probe and an affidavit containing allegations of maladministration, there are other reasons that many in the party believe are the reasons for her removal.
De Lille defied the federal executive by appointing August as a chief whip of council, ignoring a preference of the federal council.
She defied DA leader Mmusi Maimane by reappointing Loyiso Nkohla when she was told not to do so.
De Lille also wanted to boot out Mayco member JP Smith for no apparent reason.
Western Cape DA leader Bonginkosi Madikizela has labelled De Lille a “conspiracy theorist” after she released a statement that she was aware of plans he was being lined up to replace her.
He dismissed the allegations as “nonsense” and far-fetched.
This weekend the federal executive will consider De Lille’s response as to why she should not resign.