The Democratic Alliance announced on Tuesday that veteran politician Patricia de Lille has ceased to be a member of the party, thereby ending her seven-year rule as mayor of Cape Town.
The DA said deputy mayor Ian Neilson would take over in an acting capacity, while De Lille, in trademark style, hit back and accused the party she has served for a decade and a half of having a regressive agenda.
Thank you @TheDesmondTutu and Mama Leah for your support. https://t.co/LYdPJXwF0u
— Patricia de Lille (@PatriciaDeLille) May 9, 2018
Natasha Mazzone, the deputy chairwoman of the DA’s federal council, early on Tuesday told a media briefing the “cessation of her membership” was based on the fact that De Lille breached the party’s constitution by declaring her readiness to resign on a radio talk show late last month.
De Lille’s assertion that she was “ready to walk away” sealed her fate, Mazzone said.
7 Reasons Why SA millennials Should Care About Patricia de Lille:
1. De Lille and the Democratic Alliance have been involved in open hostility for months after colleagues at the city council aired maladministration and corruption allegations against her.
Despite this mockery of fairness and justice, I must thank the thousands of supporters from all over the country who have sent so many messages of support over the eight months while I endured this relentless onslaught. ENDS
— Patricia de Lille (@PatriciaDeLille) May 8, 2018
2. Two of her allies in the city administration lost their jobs following an internal investigation but De Lille has strenuously denied any wrongdoing.
3. de Lille has accused the DA of trying to oust her to frustrate efforts to bring about greater social equality in the city, earning a stinging rebuke from James Selfe, the chairman of the DA’s federal executive, who told media the claim was nonsense.
Section 3.5.1.2 of the party’s constitution stipulates that a member ceases to be a member when he or she “publicly declares his or her intention to resign and/or publicly declares his or her resignation from the Party”.
4. Selfe conceded that he did not think the decision to terminate De Lille’s membership of the party would end a bruising battle between her and the DA, which has repeatedly landed up in the Cape Town High Court. “I would like to think that the saga ends today, but somehow I doubt it.”
De Lille delivered 11 years of election victories for the DA. The highest majorities they have ever achieved. And now she’s surplus to their requirements. Plain and simple. We see them. #DeLille #patriciadelille
— Simon Grindrod (@SimonPGrindrod) May 7, 2018
5. De Lille told a media briefing that the decision to kick her out was a victory for conservatives within the DA. “If they think it’s a victory today, it’s a victory for the conservative people in the DA who don’t want to see transformation in the City of Cape Town.”
We like heroes and villains and our approach to the DA and De Lille issue is no exception. Some of the analysis by journalists is laughable for its chameleon like somersaults. Then she was sucking up to whites in the DA and now she is a champion of inclusive spatial development
— Mbhazima Shilowa (@Enghumbhini) May 9, 2018
6. De Lille has in recent weeks sought to force the DA through the courts to give her access to documentation that informed its decision, on February 14, to charge her with misconduct after a separate political investigation, headed by DA chief whip John Steenhuisen.
Check the “Diversity” that has just announced Patricia De Lille’s dismissal from DA.#DeLille pic.twitter.com/JE6q3Da6jw
— Hloni Nyetanyane (@HloniNyetanyane) May 8, 2018
7. Mazzone said on Tuesday it had hoped the disciplinary process would be concluded within two months but that De Lille had chosen to challenge the process repeatedly by “introducing a number of interlocutory matters, including that the hearing be open to the public and that it should be conducted by independent persons”.
Patricia de Lille is a force to be reckoned with and she most certainly won’t back down.
– African News Agency (ANA)
