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By Makhosandile Zulu

Journalist


De Lille says she fears nothing ahead of motion of no confidence in her today

The DA caucus in Cape Town will vote on a motion of no confidence in Mayor Patricia de Lille today.


The Democratic Alliance (DA) caucus in the Cape Town metro will today vote on a motion of no confidence in the city’s mayor, Patricia de Lille.

This after the party’s federal executive last week granted the caucus permission to table the motion against De Lille.

Only DA councillors will vote on the motion.

De Lille tweeted a statement today in response to the vote, stating she remained fearless and only feared God.

When requesting for permission to table the motion against De Lille, the following are some of the reasons the party’s caucus laid out to its federal executive, which led to the former structure losing confidence in De Lille:

  • The fact that the caucus previously tested its confidence in the mayor and found that an overwhelming two-thirds majority of the caucus had lost faith in her ability to lead them. This was due, according to the caucus, to De Lille repeatedly breaching the code of conduct for councillors as well as the constitution of the DA, relating to bringing the DA into disrepute and the breach of the conditions of her suspension.
  • That De Lille’s conduct in the public domain has amounted to frequent criticisms of the DA and the DA’s management of her case, to the extent that it appears that she does not consider herself part of the DA any longer, or at least considers herself more important than it and above the rules of the party.
  • Her recent comment “she is no longer cooperating with the DA” means she cannot effectively govern on a DA mandate.

In her statement, the mayor says that in the past month she has held 25 community meetings and that at these meetings none of the community members said they had lost confidence in her leadership.

“This begs the question whether these councillors, who say they have lost confidence in me, ever consulted with their communities?”

De Lille recently landed herself in hot water with her party, the DA, after she appeared unexpectedly at an EFF-organised gathering.

The party reportedly dismissed allegations that it would take her to task for attending and addressing the EFF event.

At its recent federal congress, the DA passed a recall clause – popularly known as the De Lille Clause – which the party’s caucus in the city used to table the motion of no confidence in the mayor.

De Lille has stated before that the clause was passed to get rid of her, however, the DA has denied this claim.

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