Cape Town - A baaskap culture and so-called white boys’ club at the Democratic Alliance (DA) are the driving forces behind attempts to oust her, said Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille on Friday.
In an exclusive Weekend Argus interview, De Lille literally lifted her boxing gloves and said she was now “fighting for my reputation that they are hell-bent on tarnishing”.
The DA mayor is serving her second term meant to conclude in 2021 but factions within her party want to remove her from office.
To this end, a vote on a no confidence motion against her in the City of Cape Town council has been scheduled for Thursday.
De Lille said she had appointed advocate Dali Mpofu to lead her court case at the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday.
She wants the court to rule that the proposed vote be held in secret. “There’s a lot of support for me by councillors but James Selfe and Mmusi Maimane told them if they don’t vote against me they can sign their resignation letters,” said De Lille.
“I’m going to court to allow councillors to have a secret vote. Then people can vote with their conscience.”
Selfe is the DA’s federal council chairperson and Maimane is the party’s national leader. Selfe on Friday cautioned De Lille against the court case.
“The DA has already made it clear that every councillor is free to vote with his or her own conscience no threats or disciplinary action will be taken against (city council) caucus members regarding their vote,” said Selfe.
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De Lille said Selfe was among the “backroom boys’ club of white men who are running the DA”.
“It’s all white males fighting the mayor and people of colour are being used by the backroom boys’ club,” said De Lille.
“If you look at the scripted messages they put out over the past months, it’s all in the same way. And Mmusi and (DA Western Cape leader) Bonginkosi (Madikizela) have been used. They kept on repeating the same things.”
De Lille added: “These are people who think they have a divine right to rule the DA until Jesus comes. And everybody else that comes into the DA is treated like a visitor in this white boys’ club.
“They just tolerate you if you can gather some votes. It is really to grow their kingdom. They don’t like to be challenged. They are not fair.”
She added: “Apartheid could be dead but its legacy is still there. These are people who still have a baaskap mentality. They think because they are white they can tell Patricia what to do.
“Within this club you also have a number of Freemasons with an ideological conservative view. I have worked with these people for many years. I joined the DA ten years ago.”
The DA has meanwhile accused De Lille of insubordination and has said that she is corrupt.
The party also accused her of maladministration.
“The DA is saying their Cape Town government is corrupt and there’s maladministration.
“They accuse me of corruption and everything that went wrong in this city,” said De Lille.
“I have a deputy mayor and ten mayoral committee members that I have delegated. Don’t paint me as if I have been personally responsible and liable for everything that has gone wrong in this city.
“I must now get blamed for everything that is wrong in a DA-led government.”
De Lille said there was a “haste to get rid of me” because “there are people waiting in the wings for this (mayoral) position”.
“I need to protect my integrity and my reputation that they are hell-bent on destroying. They want to paint me as a corrupt person. That is what the fight is all about for me,” she said.
“I can walk away now. But if I walk away they will say I have resigned because I am guilty. But I have not received a fair process.”