Cape Town - Cape Town’s longest-serving mayor, Patricia de Lille, who has lost the confidence of her own party, has been offered a job as an MP.
Sources have informed the Cape Argus that De Lille refused to take up a job in the National Assembly as she argued that, if she was not good enough in the City, she would not be good enough for Parliament.
DA leader Mmusi Maimane and James Selfe were tasked with dealing with the mayor and offered her the position.
Selfe could not be reached for comment on Monday. Portia Adams, Maimane’s spokesperson, said the question could be posed at a media briefing on Tuesday.
DA Western Cape leader Bonginkosi Madikizela referred all queries to Selfe or Maimane. “They were tasked in dealing with this.”
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De Lille would not be drawn on the matter. She said she was more interested in the no-confidence vote.
“I am told that they have instructed caucus on how to vote. I am also told that they are watching what exactly the ANC will be doing with their own vote of no confidence,” De Lille said.
Asked if she was still interested in being mayor, De Lille said: “I am not bound to any position. But my integrity and reputation is valuable to me. These are qualities that you simply can’t buy.”
Madikizela said DA councillors were warned not to vote with the opposition ANC. “We live in a country where majority rules. There was an overwhelming vote in the request for the motion but we also expect some cooperation from her (De Lille). But she is hellbent on staying on as the mayor, but we can’t remove her through the ANC,” he said.
De Lille has been at the centre of two investigations arising out of the City of Cape Town. The DA is nearing completion of its own investigation, according to Advocate Glynnis Breytenbach, chairperson of the federal legal commission.