De Lille not riding into any sunset, DA should be ‘worried’

The Democratic Alliance should be the ones looking behind their backs for what former mayor of Cape Town Patricia de Lille may be planning.

This is according to political analyst Professor Somadoda Fikeni who said De Lille may have still had a point to prove to the DA and may still chip away some of the party’s support in retaliating.

Fikeni, speaking on local radio station Metro FM, said the conflict between the DA and De Lille may be the motivation stimulating De Lille’s “obsession”.

He reminded that the EFF was still breathing on the DA’s neck, aiming to be the main opposition party.

Fikeni was answering a question of who between the DA, ANC, and EFF should be most worried after De Lille announced that she would be starting her own political party.

The DA may still hang on to the Western Cape according to Fikeni, but would still need to shake off a cloud of patronage and corruption in the party. It would also need to shake off the recurrent stigma of racism within the DA.

Meanwhile, De Lille is not showing any sign of riding into the sunset.

Although the former mayor and DA member remains a seasoned politician, she may still face a tough challenge going into the elections next year.

Fikeni believes that with only a few months before the elections, De Lille may not have sufficient time to make an impact across the county or have branches across the country as it remains an expensive exercise.

“De Lille is still to clear her name before gaining the public’s trust. If she could help the nation understand how she is not implicated in the alleged corruption… because she can’t be seen as a corruption buster and still be accused of corruption.

“The DA will always drum on that, she will always be on the back foot for as long as the court case or any investigation or any process to prove her guilty or otherwise is not completed. There will always be a cloud hanging over her.”

De Lille has announced that she will be starting a new political party and contesting the 2019 elections.

Five councillors who resigned in Cape Town will be joining her in starting the new party.

De Lille also mentioned she would consider contesting the premiership.

She continued to say that while she’d been approached by many parties, including the ANC and the EFF, she opted not to join them as she wanted to “change” the way SA politics works and “groom” young politicians.

“This is a call to action for all South Africans to do something good for our country,” she said.

She mentioned she came from a “very abusive relationship with the DA” and expected a “very dirty campaign coming from them going into the future”.

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