Response of the ANC to Mayor De Lille about non attendance to mayco meetings

The ANC in the City of Cape Town is very concerned about the growing arrogance and ignorance of realities from Mayor Patricia De Lillie. The mayor addressed council late August 2011 appealing to councillors to participate in committees and subcouncils after the ANC was questioning the manner in which the subcouncils are demarcated.

The ANC responded positively by first attending mayco meeting and contributed in the meeting. The following meeting the ANC was not allowed to speak on the presentation by Dr Borain. We subsequently sent a letter to the mayor asking clarity and she was so sarcastic and silly in her response.

The only conclusion we can make as the ANC is that the mayor has realised that what she wished for is too much for her to handle. The ANC is so powerful in the city forcing the DA to concede in many things. Now, the DA has decided to clamp down on the opposition by suppressing debates. This mayor is becoming irrelevant in this Administration. We believe that the Mayor was not happy about the report of cape argus stating that the has taken opposition to mayco.

She cannot even respond to the questions put by the ANC in council. In fact we are of the view that she is not in control. Her response to the chief whip of ANC displays a lack of political maturity and absolute arrogance. The chief whip of the ANC wrote to her on behalf of the ANC and she responds by becoming personal and attack the character of the chief whip instead of addressing the letter.

We want to put on records that Cllr Sotashe is well respected by the rank and file of the ANC and he is a prominent leader in the movement upholding the principles and values of the ANC. Unlike the Mayor of cape town who sold her membership of the Independent Democrats to the highest bidder i.e Democratic Alliance. It is only in South Africa where you have a party without leadership, that is ID. Its leadership has sold its soul because of love of money. De Lille is a political refugee in the Democratic Alliance.

The arrogance she is showing in her response has been witnessed and experienced by the community of Atlantis, Lwandle and Khayelitsha during IDP public participation. Recently, during council debate she labelled members of the communities clowns. One does not expect this kind of behaviour from the person who occupy the highest office in the city. The Mayor has no respect for the opposition, the letter was sent to her on the 5th October 2011, she only responds today 19th October 2011.

We want to tell the mayor that Cllr Sotashe will never be a political prostitute. The ANC is satisfied with its performance in the City of Cape Town and will continue to expose racism, nepotism and incompetency. We have managed to expose the DA in many fronts and we have challenged the DA to have public debate on issues they are just too scared. The DA in the city is so vulnerable because of its internal fighting about the control of the resources.

The fights are evident where the Mayor and her Deputy fought publicly in council and ANC was forced to intervene. The results of these internal fights led to the appointment of Deputy City Manager where you will have a city manager without powers reporting to the office of the premier and deputy manager report to the office of the mayor. Its an old guard versus the new guard and it is only time will tell. We want to advice is De Lille that arrogance is a recipe for disaster.

Statement issued by ANC in the City of Cape Town, October 19 2011

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