DA is ‘between a rock and a hard place’ legally

While DA leader Mmusi Maimane says that the Patricia De Lille matter is “not as big an elephant” as some are making it out to be, former leader Tony Leon feels it leaves the party in a tough legal position.

It is not the judge’s decision on Patricia de Lille but his conclusion that the DA’s FLC is improperly constituted that spells huge legal trouble for the party, according to Leon.

Speaking to Dan Moyane on eNCA on Thursday morning, Leon said rather than appealing specifics of the De Lille matter, the party was “far more exercised about the other part of the judgment which said that the federal legal commission of the party was improperly constituted”.

According to Leon, the decision calls all past internal processes taken by the DA’s Federal Legal Council (FLC) into question, and many of those who have been disciplined in the past “may be able to get all their adverse decisions overturned”.

Leon also said the decision spelled trouble for the DA’s attempts to discipline other mayors it considered to have acted improperly.

“There are a number of De Lille copycats, there is the DA mayor in George who is being disciplined by the party, and there is a situation in Knysna where the DA mayor conspired with the ANC to get elected,” said Leon.

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“If in fact the federal commission of the party was improperly constituted, how does the party then go about disciplining those people and indeed all the other people or officials who have been disciplined by the party?”

Leon came to the conclusion that “legally, the party is in a very difficult spot, and it’s going to try and disentangle this matter”.

De Lille found herself back in the Western Cape High Court, where she is challenging an internal report into her conduct that was authored by DA chief whip John Steenhuisen.