Electoral Court ruling adjudicates on the role and authority of the IEC

The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the Electoral Court setting aside the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC) decision on the DA’s statement that Minister Patricia De Lille was “fired” from the Party.

In April, the IEC ruled that the DA’s comment was “false” and issued a directive that the Party not only “cease and desist” from making such comments, but that the DA apologises.

The Electoral Court found that the IEC had no power or authority to adjudicate this matter nor did it have the power to issue remedial action. Further to this, the judgement found that the statement was permissible in terms of free speech and therefore did not have any bearing on the outcome of the election itself.

The Electoral Court ruling now sets an important precedent for the future conduct of the IEC.

Throughout the election period, the IEC conducted itself in an inconsistent and lethargic manner when dealing with complaints brought to its attention, despite prima facie evidence of violations of the Code of Conduct by political parties.

The IEC’s primary mandate is to ensure free and fair elections. It is therefore essential that the Commission at all times ensures that it conducts its business without fear or favour and is careful not to allow itself to be used as a political football or to be perceived to be partial.

The judgement can be obtained here.

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.

DA responds to Patricia De Lille queries

We note a number of media reports related to a City of Cape Town Council appointed independent investigation, which according to these media reports recommends that criminal charges be laid against Patricia de Lille amongst others, for interfering in City tenders and the legal duties and obligations of the former City Manager, Achmat Ebrahim, in instituting legally required disciplinary actions against officials guilty of violating the law. We, as the DA, have always maintained that this wholly independent investigation should be allowed to run its course so that the full extent of the governance breakdown in Cape Town under de Lille could be independently and fully investigated.

It is important for the public to understand that there are two investigative reports, both which by all accounts point to continuous interference and misconduct by Patricia de Lille. The second more substantive report, which by all accounts includes 2000 pages of detailed evidence, based on interviews, legal submissions and other inputs paints a grim picture of Patricia de Lille’s conduct as Mayor.

We await and respect the outcome of Thursday’s Council meeting where the results of this independent investigation are tabled. We would be hopeful that Ms de Lille and her associates do not seek to confuse the public any further on this matter.

Mutual Agreement: Leadership of the DA government in the City of Cape Town

I am pleased to announce today that the DA and Patricia de Lille have reached a mutual agreement which resolves the question of the leadership of the DA government in Cape Town.

This has been a long and difficult journey. This matter has already gone on for too long, and has sapped the energies and attentions of both parties from our core work, for which we apologise.

We were both desirous of finding a mutually agreeable resolution, and we have now done so. I am confident that this outcome is in the best interests of the people of Cape Town.

Patricia de Lille has agreed to resign the office of Mayor, effective 31 October 2018.

This is an opportunity for the City of Cape Town DA caucus to take stock, to regroup and to unite. The process to elect a new Mayor will begin immediately, with more details available in due course.

The DA has taken a decision to withdraw all internal disciplinary charges against Patricia de Lille.

Any other investigations by the City are not covered by this agreement.

As a party that prides itself on clean government, we were obliged to consider all allegations levelled against Ms De Lille. It is never easy to take action against one of your own. But I am confident that, throughout this painful period, we have acted in the best interests of the citizens we serve.

This agreement is an opportunity to close a difficult chapter in our history and to open a new one. We will continue to put the people first in all we do.

The DA acknowledges that the Mayor has led the DA’s government in the City of Cape Town since 2011, and has for the most part done so with distinction. The team she has led has achieved four clean audits and has helped the City of Cape Town to its pre-eminent position as the leading metro in South Africa. She has been a colleague, friend and loyal member of the DA for nearly a decade.

We are pleased that this agreement opens the way for her to remain as a member of the DA.

Mayor De Lille and the Democratic Alliance reach an agreement regarding the disciplinary process going forward

The Democratic Alliance (DA) and Mayor of Cape Town, Patricia de Lille, have reached an agreement about her ongoing issues with the Party.

Both parties have agreed to a speedy disciplinary process including a hearing that will take place over 3 days in August.

In line with the agreement, the Motion of No Confidence against Mayor De Lille that was scheduled to take place, today in the City of Cape Town Council, has been withdrawn.

In addition, the agreement makes space for the Mayor to be held accountable in a fair and reasonable manner for findings of independent Council led-investigations, such as the upcoming Bowman’s report into her conduct.

Upon Mayor De Lille’s insistence, the Party will appoint an FLC panel, and the prosecution will be led by an independent senior prosecutor and will be open to the media. This agreement states that we will all strive to conclude the matter as soon as possible.

We are working to ensure that the DA Caucus, the Mayoral Committee and functions of the City are focused on putting the people of Cape Town first.

De Lille dishonest about not receiving ‘Steenhuisen’ report

Repeated claims by Ms Patricia de Lille that she was never provided with a copy of the ‘Steenhuisen’ report are simply untrue.

The report was sent to her on 11 December 2017 at 08:05 and she responded to the DA on 13 December 2017 at 08:01. It is, therefore, a blatant untruth that she has not been provided with a copy of it.

The report is also a matter of public record as it was submitted to the Western Cape High Court. Ms de Lille should know this as she is fully aware of the case number of her court application and therefore should have access to the report through the court if she is having difficulty locating it in her email inbox.

For ease of reference, the report can be accessed here.

Ms de Lille has also repeatedly stated that she wants the names of the whistleblowers who gave testimony at the enquiry. The DA is of the opinion that these individuals are we are protected under Protected Disclosures Amendment Act, which seeks to prevent any intimidation.

This is vital as Ms de Lille has already publicly attacked and sought to intimidate two whistleblowers in the City of Cape Town.

Ms de Lille has also claimed that the DA missed the deadline to submit our answering affidavit. What she has conveniently omitted is that the deadline she refers to is the one set by herself by when she wanted the DA to submit this affidavit.  The High Court Uniform Rules provide that an affidavit must be lodged within 20 days.  She demanded that we submit the affidavit within four court days.  We filed within eleven days, well within the limit.

We continuously reminded her of the Rules and that her Application must be postponed to the opposed roll like any other matter. Again, she chose to ignore the Court rules and process. Only this morning she agreed with us despite our team writing to her as many as 3 times before today

The internal enquiry was established last year to investigate obvious political tensions in the Cape Town Caucus as well as a growing list of substantive complaints about the nature and style of the Mayor’s internal leadership. It was chaired by John Steenhuisen, and other members included, DA Gauteng Provincial Leader, John Moodey, DA Free State Provincial Leader Patricia Kopane and Councillor Karen Smith.

The findings of the enquiry cannot be taken lightly and found that Ms De Lille has failed in her duties and responsibilities, has brought the Party into disrepute and her actions were detrimental to internal co-operation within the party. Specifically:

  • Evidence of deep divisions within the caucus of the City of Cape Town exist. These divisions were shown to have been a result of Ms De Lille’s leadership style which is overwhelmingly viewed as unnecessarily autocratic, divisive and misaligned to democratic principles of openness and tolerance;
  • The organisational restructuring led by Ms De Lille appears to have been used in certain instances to remove experienced officials in the City, with a view to replacing them with officials whose loyalty to her was prized over all else;
  • Decision making structures had been stripped of powers and functions, seemingly with a view to centralise overwhelming power in Ms De Lille, undercutting the authority and democratically enshrined role of the Mayoral committee, portfolio committees and sub-councils, as well as the DA’s commitment to bringing government as close to the people as possible;
  • It appears that the Ms De Lille interfered with and manipulated appointments at a senior management level within the City and some of its entities; and

It is most unfortunate that Ms de Lille continues to put her own interests of the people of Cape Town.

Despite this, the DA will continue to prioritise the people of Cape Town and to deliver services and clean governance.

DA has not offered de Lille mayoral position

The DA would like to clarify that we have not and will not offer to keep Patricia de Lille on as Mayor of the City of Cape Town.

We have offered to agree, in order to prevent any further unnecessary legal delays, that the IEC does not fill the vacancy until such time as the Review matter before the Western Cape High court, is finalised.

Ms De Lille wants to interdict the DA, the Municipal Manager and the IEC, pending the main review, on three matters:

  1. Suspending the effect of the notice to the Municipal Manager that her membership has ceased;
  2. Preventing the Municipal Manager from informing the IEC of the vacancy;
  3. Preventing the IEC from filling the vacancy,

She also seeks a declaratory order by the Court on the constitutionality of the cessation clause in the DA Constitution in her review.

In the interest of a speedy resolution of the main review, the DA has notified Patricia de Lille that it will agree to an Order that the IEC not fill the vacancy that has now occurred pending the expedited hearing on a date to be determined by the Court.

Under no circumstances did we offer Ms De Lille the mayoral position back. The City of Cape Town is being led by Ian Neilson who is the Acting Mayor pending the finalisation of this matter.

The DA is determined to conclude this matter as speedily as possible in order to stabilise the Cape Town government and focus on delivery to the people that we serve.

DA notes De Lille’s intention to approach the Courts

The DA notes Ms Patricia De Lille’s comments that she will be approaching the Courts on Friday, 11 May 2018, to challenge the constitutionality of Section 3.5.1.2 of the DA’s Constitution.

The Party is yet to receive the papers in this regard. Once we have received them, we will study them carefully and provide feedback to the public and the media.

Ms De Lille voluntarily took up DA membership, where she served on the Federal Executive of the Party for many years and viewed the processes, procedures and application of the Party’s constitution up close.

It is therefore disingenuous that she finds issue with the application thereof, now that it has been applied to her.

The Acting Mayor, Ian Nielson, will now continue the work of Mayor of the City of Cape Town with the explicit mandate to ensure that the citizens of Cape Town are placed front and centre and that services are delivered and good governance is restored.