Own Goals...

Own goals, that could hurt the DA at the ballot box. Those the words of many senior party members in reaction to the ongoing saga surrounding Patricia de Lille.

In a previous blog, DA Confusion, I said you not alone if you feel confuse about the charges against the Cape Town Mayor. Well now we know the charges [see bullets i to v below] but developments since then would appear as if some are jumping the gun [skip to the conclusion if you cannot wait].

Earlier this week the Western Cape High Court ruled Mayor Patricia De Lille be allowed to attend City caucus meetings when matters of governance are discussed, after parties involved reach an agreement. (see bullet d below)

This ruling comes a day after JP Smith returned to party activities and on the same day party leader, Mmusi Maimane, said he would the next day [Wednesday 24 January 2018] announce a multi-disciplinary programme of action to deal with the management of averting ‘Day Zero’ [water crisis].

Maimane then launched and said he is personally taking responsibility for #DefeatDayZero. The DA leader who said he is taking political control also announced a Drought Crisis Team, that notably excluded the Mayor of the first City in the world to possibly run out of water.

Why mention this, because hours after this launch the DA City Caucus held a special meeting discussing the Mayor’s fate.

On Sunday councillor Mercia Kleinsmith requested an urgent DA caucus meeting to discuss a motion of no confidence in the Mayor.

“There are simply too many worrying matters, actions and press releases that are in contradiction with DA policies and values. All indications are that the party and its structures, the public and this caucus has lost confidence in the mayor to lead this city,” Kleinsmith motivated the motion.

A five-hour marathon meeting concluded with 152 of the caucus members voting: with 8 abstaining, 1 spoilt ballot and 84 votes in support and 59 against it.

The City of Cape Town Council has 231 seats. A majority of 116 votes is needed for the motion to pass.

The caucus decision now goes to the Federal Executive for consideration but the green light might not be given before the next council meeting on Wednesday 31 January 2018 – where an ANC sponsored Motion of No Confidence, that was handed in last month, will be tabled.

De Lille reportedly says she is not worried about the decision.

“The party has to decide on that. It is not council, it was the DA’s caucus meeting. I am still the mayor of Cape Town and I can only be removed by the full City of Cape Town. It does not say anything.”

While councillors are constitutionally allowed to table such a motion it is important to note DA candidates for Mayors; deputies and speakers are selected by a selection panel pending the approval of the FedEx, before the relevant caucus formally nominate and vote for such candidates.

Perhaps good to remind ourselves that in especially the last two elections DA leaders travelled across the country selling the good governance and corruption free City of Cape Town. “Where we govern, we govern well,” is what we were told. Ironically the person leading the well-run City is now accused of serious allegations by the very same council she is leading.
Patricia de Lille is also charged by her party for alleged misconduct for

1. Acting in a way that impacts negatively on the image or performance of the party
2. Failed to carry out duties and responsibilities set out by the standards required by the statutory rules required by the public office.
3. Bringing the name of the party in disrepute
4. Acted in an unreasonable and detrimental manner
5. Unreasonably failed to comply with or rejected decisions of the official formations of the party.

To take another step back, late in 2017:

(a) A public war of words broke out between the Mayor and a member of her mayoral committee, JP Smith. At the centre of the spat is the disbanding of the City’s special investigation unit – that resorted under Smith.(b) Smith also wrote a letter to party leaders, that leaked to the media, mentioning speculation of unauthorized security alterations at Patricia De Lille’s home.(c) An official, Craig Kesson, implicated the mayor in serious allegations concerning two senior staff members. Read Affidavit(d) Patricia De Lille and JP Smith were both placed on special leave from all party activities – this included from attending caucus meetings. Read Statement(e) Prior to a DA federal executive meeting where Patricia De Lille’s submissions on why she should not be fired, Federal Council Chairperson James Selfe told City Press “it is not whether the mayor has done anything right or wrong. The issue to decide on is whether the DA has confidence in her and her ability to run the city and to manage the caucus”.“If a decision is made that De Lille should resign and she refuse, we will have to instruct the DA City caucus to support a motion of no confidence,” Selfe added.

 

It could be all a coincidence that the #DefeatDayZero launch, De Lille’s exclusion from it and her caucus voting to support a motion against the mayor all happened on the same day.

What does boggle the mind – considering everything above – is that the DA caucus might have jumped the gun and with their vote declared Patricia de Lille guilty (of the allegations against her) and decided on her punishment, before there has even been a judgment, let alone a hearing.

Metrorail: It's a crisis, but there is a plan

Damages to the rail infrastructure is what we can see but what about the damages to people’s lives who are unable to get to work or home.

These the words of Western Cape Transport Minister Donald Grant, who says commuters should be the number one priority.

Prasa Acting Group CEO, Cromet Molepo, during a media tour to Metrorail’s notorious Central Line says there is a plan…

The tour comes hours after a test train derailed, shortly before the line would have been reopened after it was closed for more than a week. The closure was due to a labour dispute, following the fatal shooting of an armed security guard and destruction of two substations, that are needed to ensure trains can move.

For years little investment took place in passenger rail, and from the little that was invested some went to the wrong pockets.

Current management inherited a system falling apart and as if that was not enough to deal with, crime and gang related activities in various communities have started to not only affect but spill over onto the tracks.

On 12 January I wrote in an article trains are a national crisis. Prasa for the first time in a statement admitted “national intervention is needed”. A few days later ANC member of the WCPP Standing Committee on Transport, Cameron Dugmore, also said “we should consider the situation a national crisis”.

In another article on 17 January I mention the train system can come to a halt in the province. Vandalism and cable theft already started to spread to other lines, and if nothing is done there will be no movement on any of the lines.

Nana Zenani, spokesperson for Prasa, says if we don’t learn from Bonteheuwel and Khayelitsha the system can collapse.

“It is not only cable theft taking place but vandalism of infrastructure and staff and commuters that are robbed and whose lives are in danger.”

During the Central line media tour, deputy director-general for rail at the department of transport, Mathabatha Mokoena, stop short of saying passenger rail is a national crisis. Instead he admitted passenger rail is in a critical state. According to him DoT is committed to preventing trains coming to a standstill and if needs be budget adjustments will be done and even additional funding be asked from Treasury.

Cosatu in the Western Cape have also express their concern for the safety of commuters. “Everyone should be working together to ensure a safe rail environment,” says Tony Ehrenreich, provincial secretary.

Head of SAPS railway police, Maj.-gen. Michael Mohlala, says they will be working more closely with Metrorail to clampdown on cable thieves.

Mohlala said that in future, cable theft crime scenes will be completely sealed off by forensics officers, fingerprints will be taken and compared with metals sold to scrap metal dealers.

Previously, the crime scenes had been walked over by the repairmen and no clues were left.

When asked about deployment of officers on trains, especially during peak, Mohlala said he already requested that deployment of officers be done in accordance to the needs of the rail operator.

Most notably absent was not only City of Cape Town Mayco Member for Transport, Brett Herron, but also ward councillors in the affected area.

When asked about ward councillors who are the first contact with communities, not being invited, Prasa GCEO said he was not part of organizing committee but asked that all stakeholders be invited.

MEC Grant in his speech made mention of including the city. “We all need to work together and pull in the same direction.”

Chairwoman of the Cape Business Chamber, Janine Myburgh, was present. Prasa appealed to her for the chamber to engage their members, considering the state of the railway service, not to dismiss employees for late arrival because of train delays

When asked if he’s satisfied with and the level of communication to commuters, Molepo before I could complete my question said: “No, I can never be. Not if I look at the amount of complaints”.

There seems to be no clear deadlines for what is planned, nor is Prasa giving more detailsMolepo’s response is: “we cannot reveal the details of our plan. Criminals are clever, they watch TV, listen to radio and read”.

Also read:
* Pyne oor die lyne
* Keer 'n ramp

DA confusion

If the charges against Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille is confusing, don't stress. Even senior DA leaders don’t know what is going on, or not going on.

The Democratic Alliance is possibly also scoring own goals with this matter and it could deal the party a raw hand at the polls come #Election2019.

Questions that need answers include:

- Why the silence from senior party members?
- If there is proof of corruption why has Mmusi Maimane not visited a police station, to allow the authorities to investigate the allegations?- Why is there a lack of transparency? - If there are discrepancies in the report, which was highlighted, why present a flawed report?- The tender irregularities are regarding the buses. Why is the mayoral committee member for transport not mentioned? Surely if you the political head of a department you meet with your ED and ask questions, if you pick up things are not what they should be?- Bowman Gilfillan concluded that Patricia De Lille is guilty of forwarding City of Cape Town reports to the DA Leader. Mmusi Maimane himself have said this is not true. This makes one wonder can we believe the rest of the content in the BG-report?- The DA has been preaching separation of power between party and state. Yet these events involve the party in state processes [one clear example is a statement on 14 December 2017 that reads: The DA prides itself on excellent governance standards, guided by the values of accountability and transparency. For this reason, the Leader directed the caucus of the COCT to establish an independent investigation to probe these allegations.]- The DA boast and used the City of Cape Town in their election campaigns as the benchmark for good governance, that is corruption free. Why is the person leading that group being accused of serious allegations, why is there now management and governance-related challenges?
Read extract of special City of Cape Town Council meeting resolutions of Friday 5th January 2018 here.

Perhaps to try and put the above questions in context: towards the end of 2017 three things happened:

(1) A public war of words took place between the Mayor and her Mayoral Committee member for safety and security, JP Smith. At the centre of the spat is the disbanding of the City’s special investigation unit – that resorted under Smith.(2) From the above spat; news broke of security upgrades at the Mayor’s private residence, when Smith in a letter to party leaders Mmusi Maimane and James Selfe pointed to speculation that security alterations at De Lille’s home were made illegally.(3) Craig Kesson, executive director (ED) in the Directorate of the Mayor, implicated the mayor in serious allegations concerning two senior staff members. See Affidavit

De Lille says she has proof she paid for the upgrades from her own pocket, while Speaker Dirk Smit is on the record for saying security upgrades were all done within the legal framework.

In October the DA announced De Lille and Smith, who is also the DA City of Cape Town Caucus Leader and Deputy, were put on special leave from all political party activities. It was also announced a subcommittee will investigate the political management and governance situation in the City of Cape Town. Read statement

Following an affidavit from Kesson two separate issues transpired:

(i) The City of Cape Town Council decided to launch an independent investigation into the serious allegations against senior staff members, and(ii) The DA welcomed above investigation and express their confidence in it.

In November the DA issued another statement saying, “it is important to note that the allegations involve serious questions of good governance and maladministration”. It called members to order by saying “we call on all those who have the City and the DA’s best interests at heart to focus on supporting and co-operating with the”. But stop short of mentioning any names. Read Statement

Ten days before Christmas the party issued another statement saying the subcommittee completed its work and “found sufficient management and governance-related challenges in the DA’s City of Cape Town caucus, negatively impacting the City’s mandate to govern efficiently”.
It also suspended De Lille, pending the outcome of the independent investigation and asked De Lille to submit reasons why she should not resign as Mayor.

What remains a mystery is as what was De Lille suspended, as she was already on special leave from party activities and the party cannot suspend her as Mayor.

Section 58 and 59, read together with section 26, 27 and 28 stipulated when a Mayor and councillor vacate office.

Chairperson of the DA Federal Council James Selfe confirmed to City Press the mayor made her submissions and that this would be considered at a federal executive meeting.

A decision will be made, despite ongoing investigations by the city, he added.

“Our inclination is not whether the mayor has done any right or wrong. The issue that the federal executive have to decide is whether the DA has confidence in her and her ability to run the city and to manage the caucus.”

Selfe added if a decision is made that De Lille should resign, she will be informed accordingly. "If she refuses to do so, we will have to instruct the DA City of Cape Town caucus to support a motion of no confidence in her.”

The City of Cape Town is not the only headache the leadership sit with, numerous other caucuses have their challenges.

In October the DA removed their deputy mayor in Knysna, Peter Myers, in a vote of no confidence – this because he spoke out against incidents of maladministration.
In December four George mayoral committee members [Mercia Draghoender, Belrina Cornelius, Gert Niehaus and Johan Stander] were removed and the Speaker Iona Kritzinger and Chief Whip Michael Nyakati are to move to the mayco in a drastic reshuffle.

Then there’s the courtchallenge by DA MPL Lennit Max, after losing the provincial leadership, citing vote rigging. There is the possibility of the courts ordering a re-run of the provincial congress.

The DA’s Federal Congress is also set to take place in April/May and it is expected Mmusi Maimane will stand for a re-election. Leaders and their demographics elected at this congress will be important for the DA, as the party prepares to go to the Union Buildings in 2019 (but the congress and whether the DA will get the keys to the Union Buildings is an opinion for another day).