Cape Town - Barely a year after being re-elected as Cape Town mayor, Patricia de Lille faces an uncertain future as her own party caucus has overwhelmingly voted in favour of a motion to remove her from office.
DA Western Cape leader Bonginkosi Madikizela, who has been touted to take over from De Lille, said the DA’s Cape Town city council caucus had voted on Wednesday to have De Lille removed through a no-confidence motion.
He said the DA caucus had decided by 84 votes to 59 that it had lost confidence in De Lille. There was one spoilt vote.
The proposal for a no-confidence motion will now go to the federal executive to decide on the matter, before it goes to a full council (with other parties).
“This vote was requested by Councillor Mercia Kleinsmith and was thoroughly debated at a caucus meeting at which the mayor was present, and in which she participated,” Madikizela said.
De Lille said she was not worried about the decision as the party would deal with the matter.
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“The party has to decide on that. It is not council, it was the DA’s caucus meeting. I am still the mayor of Cape Town and I can only be removed by the full City of Cape Town. It does not say anything. I still need to find the reasons to test allegations.
“I have been granted that opportunity now to clear my name. But really, I am not concerned. I know that my heart is clean and that I have done nothing wrong. If there are allegations against me, they should be tested. I sleep very well at night,” she said.
Grant Haskin, an ACDP councillor, said they would not be supporting the motion should it go ahead.
“If they want to get rid of her, then they should do it. But don’t expect our support on this because we have said before that there are processes that need to be finalised before any decision on the mayor can be taken,” Haskin said.
Xolani Sotashe, ANC Cape Town leader, said: “Mmusi is such a puppet. He takes instructions from tiny white liberals and executes them. Now he has egg on his face. Opposition parties are kingmakers on what must happen in Cape Town.
“We will humble them,” he said.
Meanwhile, an order has been granted by the Western Cape High Court to have DA chief whip John Steenhuisen’s report into the governance issues in the City of Cape Town to be reviewed.
The DA now has until February 2 to hand over all documents and records to De Lille. She has until March 2 to file replying papers and her heads of arguments by April 19, while heads of arguments will be filed on April 26.
James Selfe, chairperson of the DA’s federal executive, said they would be considering the matter within a few weeks.