‘Visit my mum” is written in big, blue writing against Saturday’s 5pm slot in the diary of Patricia de Lille, leader of the Independent Democrats (ID). From a base of zero during the last election and being the only ID MP when the last session of Parliament ended, she returned last week as the head of a team of eight, plus support staff.
Analysts say her “more voice for your vote” campaign has attracted women, coloured communities and many of those disillusioned with the more established parties.
The visit to her mum is a rare personal entry — alongside her regular weekly, one-hour visit to her hairdresser — in a diary filled with parliamentary and party housekeeping matters, appointments and the launch of the ID’s disability campaign linked to the handover of two wheelchairs in Ottery on the Cape Flats.
Not everything gets into her little black book. There are also plans for “thank you” visits to all nine provinces from the end of the month, interviews for parliamentary support staff and preparations for President Thabo Mbeki’s State of the Nation speech.
But it has been a relatively easy week. Friday was clear for a return, for the first time in five months, to the greens at King David golf club with her own irons. “I have to get back out there. You unlearn quickly. It helps with the stress.”
The week started last Sunday evening when she accompanied ID chief whip Avril Harding to a parliamentary meeting on whether former president FW de Klerk should address a joint sitting with South Africa’s first democratically elected head of state, Nelson Mandela.
It ended late, delaying her going to a birthday party, where one or other of her two cellphones rang repeatedly. Seldom switched off, both are always within reach. One number is for the public and press; the other strictly for party matters, to “lighten the load” on the other.
It’s hard to delegate after years of being a lone operator used to doing everything for and by herself. But De Lille knows it must be learnt. “I have never depended on anyone to do anything. I will have to let go a bit. At the moment I cannot — the buck stops with me at the end of the day. As we grow now I will slowly let go, especially on the admin side.”
First order of Monday was housekeeping: a payment to be made and a phone call to get information from the Independent Electoral Commission. Then the National Assembly vote on De Klerk’s address, which the ID, and the Democratic Alliance, had opposed in terms of existing parliamentary rules, but lost.
De Lille’s plea that her party was not against nation-building or reconciliation but is concerned “that we disregard the rules of Parliament and are certainly not setting a good example for the rest of the country”, went unheard.
Housekeeping matters and meetings on Tuesday kept De Lille mostly in the office. It’s a far cry from the little office she had before. It is spacious, wood-panelled and with its own bathroom en suite. She initially liked it, but then found it was too dark, its furniture work-unfriendly. She has already asked Parliament to remove “the old stuff” — the overstuffed chairs, humongous desk and chaise longue — to make way for an L-shaped functional desk and boardroom table; the rose velvet curtains must go in favour of something that lets in light.
Her official diary frequently starts at 8am and goes well into the evening. Much is not captured, but is added as and when she remembers. “I’m very rude sometimes, sitting with people: I remember something and say: ‘Please can I just make this one phone call?’ and I phone immediately.”
The ID won 1,73% of the national vote. With just over 269 000 votes it is South Africa’s fifth-biggest party, a year after its launch under the motto “Back to Basics”.
De Lille will focus her parliamentary time on national debates, giving space to individual MPs to take up the cudgel on other issues. That, she hopes, will free up time to stay in touch with community concerns.
A full-time employee is handling the day-to-day affairs of the party and its 62 000 members.
To use its parliamentary profile effectively, the ID will focus on “four or five” key issues like job creation, poverty alleviation and HIV/Aids.
But it goes a little further, seeking to develop “a culture of real debate” rather than reading speeches prepared a week in advance.
De Lille says it is not about “just criticising another party but putting something up there that people can begin to think about and even respond to”.
The ID MPs know what’s expected: each is responsible for a province, each has signed a code of conduct, and will deliver “speeches from the heart”. Final touches to the party’s political strategy at Parliament will be made on Saturday morning.
“I couldn’t sleep before we had the plans in place,” jokes De Lille.
Tuesday late afternoon and most of Wednesday are reserved for trustee meetings at Impumelelo, St Joseph’s Home for chronically ill children, and Bishop’s College, some of the many boards on which she serves.
“I don’t want to be a trustee just on paper,” says De Lille. “That’s what’s always kept me in touch — It keeps you grounded.”
At night she delivered personal thanks to an election campaign funder at a dinner function.
The wheelchair handover by the ID MPs was another follow-up. Canvassing in Ottery, De Lille had noticed a family waving from the fourth floor of a block of the low ceilinged, cold-water flats found everywhere on the Cape Flats.
It emerged that Gerald de Klerk (57) and his son were disabled and could not leave the flat. They shared a wheelchair.
It’s this attitude of “we must do something” and connection to grassroots that characterise De Lille’s politics — even if she has swapped braided hair for business suits.
After 10 years in Parliament, De Lille may skip this week’s training sessions for time with her MPs. But the diary will fill up: while serving on three parliamentary committees, there are also preparations for the 2005 municipal elections to think of.
Between Parliament, party and people, De Lille smiles, “I still have to find the balance.”