The DA caucus held a special meeting on Thursday morning, just before council was scheduled to meet and debate on the motion of no confidence in De Lille. (David Harrison/M&G)
The Democratic Alliance and Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille have signed an agreement that has led to the withdrawal of a motion of no confidence in the mayor, which was tabled for Thursday.
Two sources inside the DA caucus in Cape Town have confirmed that De Lille has signed an agreement with the party to commit to go through the disciplinary processes in the DA “within two weeks”.
The DA caucus held a special meeting on Thursday morning, just before council was scheduled to meet and debate on the motion of no confidence in De Lille. The motion was submitted by DA councillor Marian Nieuwoudt and seconded by fellow councillor Brenda Hansen earlier this month.
The party’s federal executive had given the go ahead for the motion to proceed, but the Mail & Guardian understands that De Lille was negotiating an agreement with the party at the time the motion was being discussed.
On Thursday morning, the caucus was informed that an agreement had been reached for De Lille to subject herself to the party’s disciplinary panel instead of a motion of no confidence.
Earlier this year, De Lille faced two disciplinary panels which came to a halt after the mayor demanded that the hearings be open to the public. The first disciplinary panel, known as the Moolman Panel — which was led by Hans-Jurie Moolman — dealt with charges De Lille faced which stemmed from the party’s internal investigation into allegations of misconduct against the mayor.
The second disciplinary panel, the Joubert Panel — which was chaired by Len Joubert — was established in April after the party charged De Lille with not properly advertising a job post for area-based directors.
The mayor has denied the allegations which have been levelled against her, saying the party has “targeted” her and wants to “get rid” of her.
The motions of no confidence
The motion of no confidence scheduled for Thursday would have been the third De Lille has faced in 2018. In February, De Lille survived a motion of no confidence by two votes after opposition parties voted against the motion, which had been submitted by the DA. There were 107 members of the DA caucus who voted that they had no confidence in the mayor, while 40 members voted against the motion. The ANC’s 58 votes helped De Lille survive.
Then, in April, two thirds of the DA caucus voted in favour of an internal motion of no confidence in De Lille.
Party insiders speculated this week that the mayor had lost even more support within the caucus in the run-up to this latest motion of no confidence, but scoffed at the idea that she would sign an agreement to resign from her post.
De Lille could not be reached for comment.