SA poorer without strong-minded Patricia de Lille

For a little more than 16 years, Patricia de Lille has been one of the cornerstones of the DA and, many would have it, the glue which has kept the official opposition in control of the Western Cape.

But the 65-year-old De Lille’s resignation from the DA’s provincial leadership to concentrate on her position as mayor of Cape Town – an office she assumed in 2011 – has opened the floor to speculations for the “real” reasons behind her decision.

The ANC, which lost the Western Cape to the DA in the 2009 general elections, was quick to seize any political edge offered, calling De Lille’s backing out of the provincial government firing line “a tipping point”.

READ MORE: De Lille quits as DA leader in W Cape 

Whether this proves to be the case undoubtedly rests on the DA’s performance between now and the next general elections in 2019, but various polls have indicated that the provincial electorate have embraced the change at the top.

There have also been persistent mutterings of a growing difference of opinions between De Lille and Western Cape Premier Helen Zille.

Both women are strong-minded individuals. The unification of the Independent Democrats under De Lille and the Zille-led DA in August 2010 strengthened the combined party’s hold on the peninsula and the province. And both have very firm ideas on the country’s future.

Neither, it must be added, has hesitated to shoot from the hip, saying what was on her mind without equivocation.

Any rift has been widely debunked from several quarters, but the rumbles continue to echo like distant thunder.

Whatever the reasons for De Lille’s withdrawal – and there is no reason to doubt her version – the country will be poorer without her input.

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