A caucus divided

Patricia De Lille is not the first person the DA asks to take off the Mayoral Chain. Once upon a time Peter Marais was axed as UniCity Mayor. This move was defended in the papers with a half-page advertisement and the case went to court. Minutes before a council meeting the court ruled the DA broke the law in axing Marais and saw the Mayor sliding into the council chamber.

Back then the DA said it wanted Cape Town to be a shining example to the rest of South Africa, but that under Marais’ leadership it had been dogged by crisis, controversy and scandal.

Fast-forward to the present and we are watching the sequel, this time Patricia de Lille is the Mayor. For some reason this make me think about Ghostbusters with Dan and Billy, and the sequel with Melissa.

One of the differences between the two though is that whether Patricia takes off the mayoral chain or not, the DA has a divided City of Cape Town caucus.

Although caucus meetings are closed, council meetings are open to the public and from the gallery you can clearly see the cracks in the caucus.

At the time of writing this the DA requested an Special City Council meeting for a Motion of No Confidence in the Mayor and the party laid criminal charges against Patricia de Lille. The criminal charges come after a businessman handed an affidavit to the party, making allegations of corruption and bribery against De Lille. This relates to allege attempts by De Lille to solicit a R5 million bribe.

The MONC, to be debated on 15 February, will be the second. A previous motion by the ANC was withdrawn at the eleventh hour. That happened as the DA caucus got the green light from their federal leadership to support it.

The decision by the Fedex comes after a caucus meeting with a majority vote recommended to the party higher structure that the caucus support a motion in the mayor.

This after councillor Mercia Kleinsmith requested an urgent caucus meeting to discuss a motion of no confidence in the Mayor.

The motion was motivated “all indications are that the party and its structures, the public and this caucus has lost confidence in the mayor to lead this city”.

The meeting with 152 members of caucus present concluded with 8 abstaining, 1 spoilt ballot and 59 votes against and 84 votes in support of a motion.

Taking another step back, days before Christmas the DA announced a subcommittee “found sufficient management and governance-related challenges in the DA’s City of Cape Town caucus”. As 2018 started DA leader Mmusi Maimane announced the party is formally charging Patricia de Lille, with the party’s Federal Legal Commission. This comes despite the party selling its good story the past decade. She is also accused of 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.

Prior to all this De Lille resigned as DA Western Cape Leader in January 2017. At the time she said it is to focus on only being mayor. Back then I wrote in politics it is anything goes. I also mentioned as Mayor of the Mother City she might lead the biggest DA caucus, but she’s not the first to be a government and party leader.

The resignation came days have she announced a newly revamped Executive Mayoral Committee, with four mini-mayors and a deputy now without a portfolio.

Whether Patricia de Lille is acquitted on the charges or not, both internally and the criminal charges, service delivery in the Mother City is in the hands of a divided governing party. From the 152-member caucus 84 councillors will be happy not to see the first citizen return, or disgruntled that she is returning.

While the party is not addressing the division, one need to ask if the Mayor takes off the chain will there be a push to remove the 59 who supported her. The same question can also be asked if she gets to keep the mayoral chain, if there would be a push to demote or remove the 84 councillors.

We should also not forget the 9 councillors who did not vote and 2 who were absent (on leave). Will they make their alliance known or continue to play neutral?

What if from the 84 or 59 councillors had a change of mind?

The DA’s Federal Congress is taking place later this year, in little over a year we will have a general election and campaigning will kick-start in a few weeks. The DA is determined to win enough votes to be the national government. Before all this the party would want to consider working on unity to say #BetterTogether.

Considering political parties are dependent on votes, it does not take a lot to know the Patricia-saga will cost the DA votes. Insiders say the party’s own polls even suggest this.

Let’s also not forget there is the possibility of a court challenge by DA MPL Lennit Max, after losing the provincial leadership and now citing vote rigging. The courts could order a re-run of the provincial congress.

The party leader took political control over the biggest crisis a DA government has faced. Someone should perhaps advise Mmusi Maimane to allow the experts to ensure we have water. He should perhaps, before all the votes dry up, want to focus on the tension and division within not only the City of Cape Town, but caucuses where the party governs.

You might also be interested in: Own Goals & DA confusion

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.

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).