Axe hangs over De Lille

More than 30 of the DA’s most influential leaders will meet at 9.30am tomorrow to decide whether suspended Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille should be axed.

James Selfe, chair of the federal executive, the party’s highest decision-making body, said yesterday the timing of the meeting had been decided on about 10 days ago.

This was before new allegations of maladministration against the mayor came to the fore from the city itself. Selfe said the executive would limit its deliberations to its own formal report – the Steenhuisen report – and De Lille’s submissions countering why she should not resign.

The report found that De Lille had failed to manage her caucus and that this had given rise to tensions in the structure.

Law firm Bowman Gilfillan conducted a separate independent investigation into maladministration and corruption.

De Lille’s name was again muddied.

This, and the Steenhuisen report, resulted in the Cape metro council deciding this week to suspend her as mayor. Selfe said whatever the executive’s decision, it could not rely on the other reports.

“We are not [however] judicially unaware … of the fact that the city accepted the report and that it authorised the investigation to continue, and that it mandated the further investigation into the conduct of the mayor,” he said.

He said the executive was likely to come to a decision regarding De Lille by the end of tomorrow. Although he would not speculate on the outcome, various scenarios could play out.

These included her removal as a member of the party, or her exoneration of any wrongdoing.

If her reasons why she shouldn’t resign don’t pass muster, then a disciplinary hearing could be on the cards.

Selfe said De Lille had been invited to address the executive but by late yesterday, it was not clear whether she had accepted the invitation. De Lille said she would have to consult her lawyer before she told Saturday Citizen whether or not she would accept the invitation.

– news@citizen.co.za

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