DA notes that criminal charges have been laid against De Lille by the Speaker as per City Council resolution

The DA notes that the Speaker of the City of Cape Town, Dirk Smit, has today laid criminal charges against Patricia De Lille and Brett Herron in terms of a resolution taken by the Cape Town City Council which flowed from an independent investigation led by Bowmans Gilfillan.

A 2000 page report by the independent investigators details how Patricia de Lille’s conduct systematically broke down good governance in the City of Cape Town.  She did so by actively shielding and defending officials allegedly guilty of criminal acts in relation to the BYD bus tender (where processes were fraudulently manipulated to illegally favour one bus provider) and the Volvo chassis matter (where the mayor chose to ignore and shield consequential action for irregular payment of R50 million).

Her failure to bring the matter to the attention of Council was a failure of her duties in respect of the Municipal Systems Disciplinary Regulations 5 (1) and (2), as well as Regulation 3(2) of the Financial Misconduct Regulations.

As a result, the Speaker has laid the charges in accordance to s119 of the Municipal Systems Act which records as follows:

“119(1) A councilor who attempts to influence the municipal manager or any other staff member or an agent of a municipality not to enforce an obligation in terms of this Act, any other applicable legislation or any by-law or decision of the council of the municipality, is guilty of an offences and on conviction liable to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years.”

Speaker Smit also laid charges against Brett Herron, the Mayoral Committee member for TDA in terms of Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.

In terms of the Council resolution, only the City Manager may lay charges against Melissa Whitehead, the Commissioner for Transport and other officials for their conduct.

The DA has noted with surprise Ms De Lille’s comments that she had no agreement with the DA to resign. This is simply untrue. Not only did she make the announcement that she would resign at a briefing with the DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane in August, we have a signed resignation letter from her attached hereto.

Based on her comments, our lawyers have written to Ms De Lille’s lawyers to state that we expect her to vacate the mayoral office tomorrow as per the agreement. It is important that we restore stability to the City of Cape Town as soon as possible. As such, Mayor-Elect, Dan Plato, will be sworn in as a councillor on Thursday the 1st of November in preparation for him to be nominated as the Mayor of Cape Town.

The DA’s main priority remains the people of Cape Town. Ms De Lille’s never-ending delaying tactics are wearing thin and every day she shows more and more that she is not to be trusted and that she puts herself ahead of the people she is meant to serve.

De Lille evades accountability and puts herself ahead of the people of Cape Town

Patricia De Lille’s address at the Cape Town Press Club this afternoon confirms what the party has suspected. Ms De Lille will do everything in her power to evade accountability for the governance failures she has presided over.

She is doing everything possible to confuse and mislead the public. She is certainly no friend of the truth and is now throwing mud at an unprecedented rate.

She has repeatedly vilified the DA for doing what is right and what is expected from us as an organisation that demands the highest level of accountability, transparency and good governance from those who have been elected to public office. No matter how senior, or their personal history.

The facts here are simple:

  1. An independent investigation, appointed by the City of Cape Town Council (and for which De Lille voted) has recommended that Patricia de Lille be criminally charged for interfering in city tenders, and the legal duties and obligations of the former City Manager, Achmat Ebrahim, in instituting legally required disciplinary action against officials guilty of violating the law. A level of interference that can be best summed up, by De Lille’s comments “that this matter is going nowhere”.
  2. A 2000-page report by the independent investigators details how Patricia de Lille’s conduct systematically broke down good governance in the City of Cape Town.
  3. She did so by actively shielding and defending officials guilty of criminal acts in relation to the BYD bus tender (where processes were fraudulently manipulated to illegally favour one bus provider) and the Volvo chassis matter (where the mayor chose to ignore and shield consequential action for irregular payment of R50 million).

The independent report finds in relation to Ms De Lille’s conduct that:

  • Her failure to bring the matter to the attention of Council was a failure of her duties in respect of the Municipal Systems Disciplinary Regulations 5 (1) and (2), as well as Regulation 3(2) of the Financial Misconduct Regulations.
  • Council will now charge Ms De Lille under s119 of the Municipal systems Act which records as follows:

“119(1) A councilor who attempts to influence the municipal manager or any other staff member or an agent of a municipality not to enforce an obligation in terms of this Act, any other applicable legislation or any by-law or decision of the council of the municipality, is guilty of an offences and on conviction liable to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years.”

  • It is also important to note that Melissa Whitehead, the Commissioner for Transport, and the Mayoral Committee member for TDA, Brett Herron, will now also likely be criminally charged.

Ms De Lille has aggressively and constantly publicly defended them both for their actions and has simultaneously attacked the whistleblowers who bought their and her misconduct and criminal actions to the fore.

Ms De Lille has committed to resign from the mayoral office on the 31st of October.  Our priority is to bring stability and mature leadership in the City of Cape Town and to put the needs of the people first.

This is the mandate that the mayor-elect, Dan Plato has been given.

DA keeps corruption out and puts the citizens first

The Democratic Alliance is fully committed to the rule of law, and good governance. Where we govern we take a zero-tolerance approach to any form of corruption, misconduct or maladministration, as we always put citizens first.

We have governed the City of Cape Town since 2006 and in this time, we have worked hard to make it a model of good governance in South Africa, where the highest standards of ethical leadership are upheld.

It is against this backdrop that we were forced to act in relation to the numerous forms of allegations of misconduct levelled against Patricia de Lille and others implicated. We know that over the last year that members of the public have, at times, been confused about the exact reasons we had to do so.

Today’s resignation of 5 councillors who were fierce defenders of Ms De Lille at all costs – is no coincidence, as the timing of their resignation was a clear attempt to distract from the damning independent report into the possible criminal conduct of Patricia De Lille and Brett Herron.

However, we, as the DA in the City of Cape Town will not be distracted from the real issues at hand.

Now that the City of Cape Town’s independent investigation is concluded, it is now finally clear for all to understand why we acted in the manner we have as it relates to Ms De Lille.

This independent investigation, appointed by the City of Cape Town Council has recommended that Patricia de Lille be criminally charged for inter alia interfering in city tenders, and the legal duties and obligations of the former City Manager, Achmat Ebrahim, in instituting legally required disciplinary action against officials guilty of violating the law. A level of interference that can be best summed up, by De Lille’s comments “that this matter is going nowhere”.

A 2000 page report by the independent investigators details in vivid and grim detail how Patricia de Lille’s conduct systematically broke down good governance in the City of Cape Town.

She did so by actively shielding and defending officials guilty of criminal acts in relation to the BYD bus tender (where processes were fraudulently manipulated to illegally favour one bus provider) and the Volvo chassis matter (where the mayor chose to ignore and shield consequential action for irregular payment of almost R50 million).

The independent report finds in relation to Ms De Lille’s conduct that:

“her failure to bring the matter to the attention of Council was a failure of her duties In respect of the Municipal Systems Disciplinary Regulations 5 (1) and (2), as well as Regulation 3(2) of the Financial Misconduct Regulations.”

Council will now likely seek to charge Ms De Lille under s119 of the Municipal Systems Act, which records as follows:

“119(1) A councilor who attempts to influence the municipal manager or any other staff member or an agent of a municipality not to enforce an obligation in terms of this Act, any other applicable legislation or any by-law or decision of the council of the municipality, is guilty of an offences and on conviction liable to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years”. 

It needs to be borne in mind that this finding comes on the back of a previous independent finding which found de Lille guilty of:

“behaviour and actions which constituted gross misconduct, gross dereliction of duty, and conduct that amounted to deceiving council”.

It is also important to note that Melissa Whitehead, the Commissioner for Transport, and the Mayoral Committee member for TDA as well as Brett Herron, will now also likely be criminally charged.

Ms De Lille has aggressively and constantly publicly defended them both for their actions and has simultaneously attacked the whistle-blowers who brought their and her misconduct and criminal actions to the fore.

Ms De Lille has sought directly, and through her many proxies to confuse and conflate matters in the public’s mind.

It must also be noted that the first report, in no way exonerates her as she claims. The first investigation was far more limited in scope, and only interviewed a handful of people – even so, it points to her undue influence over the former City Manager. The second, far more substantive report, which was focused on the full extent of administrative wrongdoing under her leadership, shows that she protected those guilty of wrongdoing in the City.

The extent of this governance breakdown in the City of Cape Town under De Lille, has seen the City unnecessarily exposed to enormous future legal and financial risk, to the extent of billions of rands, as a result of the cancellation of fatally flawed and compromised tenders, both of which the Mayor played a lead role in driving.

The Mayor-elect, Dan Plato is now primarily focused on the fight against crime and speeding up the provision of service delivery for the people of the city.

Ten affordable housing projects coming to Cape Town!

Cape Town residents will be happy to know that ten City-owned sites in the city centre – Salt River and Woodstock – will be developed into affordable housing opportunities for those who need it most.
Cape Town’s population has increased by 56% between 1996 and 2016, and this trend is set to continue. The City of Cape Town estimates that approximately 650 000 families earning less than R13 000 a month will rely on the City for housing assistance between now and 2032.
Three of these sites have already been allocated to social housing institutions. The statutory land-use applications are under way and construction is expected to start in due course.
The City has also identified five City-owned land parcels for the development of affordable housing opportunities in Salt River, Woodstock, and the inner-city.

The precinct-led development in Woodstock and Salt River is a pivotal introduction to a customer-centric approach to housing delivery. It is a new way of doing business which we will apply in all of the other precincts where we intend to provide affordable and inclusionary housing on City-owned land.
– Councillor Brett Herron

Click here to read more delivery success stories from the DA’s 2017 year in local government