Dear supporters of this petition Thank you for your continued support. Our petition now stands at 1,107 supporters. The former leader of the DA, Tony Leon, during an interview with Karima Brown on the 12TH of January 2018, warned the DA about the disastrous consequences of continuing the De Lille saga in public. http://ewn.co.za/2018/01/12/listen-tony-leon-da-spat-over-de-lille-a-recipe-for-disaster. Leon says from his experience when the DA starts fighting in public, it is a recipe for disaster. He warns that the DA and the City of Cape Town needs to put the issue to rest as soon as possible. Leon warns the DA that what is happening to Engela Merkel, the leader of Germany, could easily happen to the DA in Cape Town. When I read the statement by Grant Twigg and the DA Metro executive on servant and accountable leadership, and concerning their recommendation to remove Patricia De Lille, I had to respond to it thus: See my response in Drop Box link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zsraare16z31d0t/MY%20RESPONSE%20TO%20GRANT%20TWIGG.pdf?dl=0 “SERVANT AND ACCOUNTABLE LEADERSHIP MUST ALWAYS BE MAINTAINED “The Democratic Alliance prides itself in being a party that represents transparent and accountable governance. It is therefore important that our leaders represent us in this regard.” MY COMMENT: If you allude to Patricia De Lille (which I think is the intention) not being transparent and accountable then I think you are wrong. She has been the most transparent and accountable mayor the city of Cape Town has had. Do the research on all previous mayors and you will be surprised how well Patricia has governed the City of Cape Town. “For us to ensure that the City of Cape Town remains a Well Run City, it is important that its leadership maintains the confidence of its party and the functionality of its political caucus.” MY COMMENT: Here again, you allude to Patricia De Lille (which I think is the intention) that she does not have the confidence of the DA and its political caucus. The DA’s power resides not only with DA structures, but with us, the voters, who voted DA in the 2016 local government elections. It is more important for Patricia De Lille to ensure that she still has our confidence, because not only does she represent the DA, she represents the hundreds of thousands of DA voters, who voted, not only for the DA, but for her personally as Mayor of Cape Town, when the DA introduced her as the mayoral candidate. So if the DA wants to get rid of De Lille as the mayor of Cape Town, a public meeting must be held in Cape Town to ask the voters how they feel about it. The DA will undermine its support base in the Western Cape if it fires De Lille without taking the sentiments of its voters on board. Read the comments of voters who signed my petition at - Most of them in support of De Lille: https://www.change.org/p/mmusi-stop-the-da-from-ousting-patricia-de-lille-as-mayor-of-cape-town/u/22229855 The problem in the City of Cape Town is the DA’s two centres of power contesting to control the City of Cape Town. The rightful centre of power is that of the Executive Mayor who enjoys the support of the Cape Town electorate. The other contesting DA centre of power is Grant Twigg and DA Metro executive council, who want to prescribe to the Mayor of Cape Town how to manage the city. These two centres of power will always be contesting for the control of Cape Town. We, the voters, should support the Executive Mayor as the only centre of power for Cape Town because we voted for her as the mayoral candidate of the DA. Most of us did not vote for the DA Cape Metro Executive, because voting for the DA in the local elections does not mean we are DA members. “It is for these reasons that the DA Cape Metro Executive have resolved to take the following decisions: 1. To recommend to the DA Western Cape Provincial Executive Committee, DA Federal Executive and the DA City of Cape Town Caucus that Patricia De Lille be removed as the Executive Mayor of the City of Cape Town.” MY COMMENT: This is too hasty a decision not considering the reasons why many voters voted for the DA in 2016: You presented us with the DA candidate list before we voted with Patricia De Lille listed as the mayoral candidate. Many of us who voted for the ID before, switched our votes to DA because we trusted Aunty Pat to have taken the right decision to merge with the DA. But this vote of no confidence in Patricia De Lille as mayor of Cape Town is a betrayal of our trust as former ID members as well. The overwhelming support for the DA in the 2016 elections proves the point. We knew if we voted DA, Aunty Pat would become the mayor of Cape Town: http://www.elections.org.za/content/LGEPublicReports/402/Party%20Results/WP/CPT_52.pdf “Patricia De Lille has lost the confidence of the Metro Executive, the relevant political authority. We are of the view that the City of Cape Town requires stability, unity and functionality - which we believe she cannot deliver.” COMMENT: You insult Mayor De Lille if you say she cannot deliver stability, unity and functionality to Cape Town. Cape Town City has received international awards for being the best run city in South Africa since De Lille has been elected to office. Why is the DA sweeping these awards under the carpet? We, the voters of Cape Town are not stupid. “ 2. To recommend to the DA City of Cape Town Caucus that the proposed ‘Drought Water Levy’ not be supported at the next Full Council meeting. After careful consideration we have come to the decision that this proposal is not viable and will create an undue burden on ratepayers. We are of the opinion that the City should reprioritize its budget as well as actively and robustly engage the National Government on the needs of the City, as water sourcing is their core competency.” COMMENT: Why is it necessary to announce this publicly? Surely the DA caucus could resolve this privately and persuade the mayor to use another approach. The public announcement is made to discredit the mayor – another betrayal by the DA Metro executive. “I communicated our recommendations to party leadership and trust they will act swiftly in the best interests of the organization.” COMMENT: This recommendation is not in the best interest of either the DA or the City of Cape Town, but it is made to further the political agenda of Mr Twigg and certain individual in the DA Metro, who has an axe to grind against the mayor of Cape Town. “All public representatives are accountable to its party and voters, and as party leadership we need to ensure that all deployees are acting in the best interests of voters as well as the organization, and not themselves.” COMMENT: The word ‘deployees’ is a word used predominantly by the ANC to keep their public representatives loyal to the party. Patricia De Lille should not only be loyal to DA structures, because many voters, who may not be DA members voted for her as mayor of Cape Town. So she has to be accountable and transparent to her voters (which include former ID members) as well. “The Metro Executive has not taken these decisions lightly but after careful consideration and deliberation. The City of Cape Town is facing unprecedented obstacles currently and requires strong leadership to ensure we overcome them. Politically we believe these decisions are in the best interest of residents, who we believe should always be at the centre of our actions. Together, we will ensure that our great City becomes even greater.” Comment: I do not believe that the DA Metro Executive has considered the constitutional implications of their recommendations. Our South African constitution states the following concerning the importance of administrative action that is just and fair to prevent decisions by kangaroo courts: “ 33 Just administrative action (1) Everyone has the right to administrative action that is lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair. (2) Everyone whose rights have been adversely affected by administrative action has the right to be given written reasons. (3) National legislation must be enacted to give effect to these rights, and must— (a) Provide for the review of administrative action by a court or, where appropriate, an independent and impartial tribunal; (b) Impose a duty on the state to give effect to the rights in subsections (1) and (2); and (c) Promote an efficient administration”. The recommendation by Mr Twigg and the DA Metro executive, therefore, is procedurally unfair, and the mayor, if she is unfairly removed by the DA, has a very strong case to sue the DA for damages.