THE DA in the province will be led by an interim leader as of February 1, when Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille’s resignation takes effect.
In an exclusive interview with Independent Media yesterday, De Lille said she had handed party leader Mmusi Maimane her resignation as provincial leader so that she could focus on “taking Cape Town to the next level of government”.
However, this was something that would “take all of my time”.
De Lille, who beat former Western Cape police commissoner Lennit Max in the electoral race to lead the party in the province in April 2015, said she needed to focus on the continued implementation of the Organisational Development and Transformation Plan (ODTP) launched earlier this month to address unequal service delivery in the Cape.
“As we position the party to be the next national government, I believe that those of us in government and other spheres have a duty to build the party's experience in, and capacity for, public management in preparation for effective custodianship of the state,” De Lille wrote to Maimane, also thanking him for his support of her leadership in the province.
De Lille said the next few months would be exciting as the implementation of the ODTP continued with restructured city directorates and the area-based management more focused on the needs of communities.
She would not be standing for re-election when the DA holds its congress in November, she emphasised.
She also confirmed that she had no interest in becoming the premier of the Western Cape.