Motion of No Confidence against DA Led City and Provincial Government
31 January 2018
On 29 November 2017, the African National Congress in the City of Cape Town tabled a motion of no confidence in the Mayor of Cape Town Patricia De Lille. The motion was informed by the ANC uncovering maladministration, corruption and irregular expenditure in the DA led City of Cape Town under De Lille as Mayor.
Since then, the DA in the City attempted to squash this motion until their factional battles serviced and as a result, the looming water crisis we are currently faced with is being used as a political tool to nurse DA factionalism. The DA City Caucus and its national structures have unashamedly used the water crisis to wholly put the blame on one individual and refused to take accountability and responsibility as a governing party in the City and Province. De Lille is now the sacrificial lamb used to absolve the racist and corrupt DA because she represents a coloured emerging faction in the Democratic Alliance.
Drought in the Western Cape was declared about four years ago. The current Western Cape Premier Helen Zille, who was Mayor of the City of Cape Town at the time, was alerted to a looming water crisis about 10 years ago. Instead of coming up with measures to avert it, the DAs strategy was to sit and wait for rain. Years later, it still has not rained and they still do not have a plan other than wanting more money from national government and blaming other people for their collective failure as a governing party.
In 2017, national government through the Minister of Water and Sanitation offered the City of Cape Town government assistance through desalination plants as one of the intervention measures to try avert the water crisis which the DA refused the help and delayed building desalination plants. Interestingly, the person who was pulling the strings behind this delay in was the City’s so called ‘water specialist’ Neil MacLeod.
The City has failed to address water leakages over the years even when these wereconsistently reported not only by the ANC but also by other stakeholders and residents in the City of Cape Town. Instead, more money was used to deflect from accountability and putting in place preventative measures to avert Day Zero.
What has become very clear is that the Democratic Alliance is pushing for Cape Town and the entire Western Cape to reach Day Zero because certain people stand to benefit financially from this crisis. It is by no coincidence that the company which has been brought in to consult on the water crisis is linked to former DA leader Tony Leon and cronies. Thus, the aversion of the Day Zero is not in the financial interest of the old white privileged faction of the DA.
The Cape Town water crisis is not only the failure of De Lille as an individual who is leading the Council of the City of Cape Town but the failure of the entire Democratic Alliance as a party which is governing the City of Cape Town. The entire DA government of the Western Cape is responsible for this water crisis. They must all be removed.
The DA claims that De Lille is corrupt and oversaw irregular transactions thus leading to the need for her removal as Mayor yet they offer her another position as a Member of Parliament. The mere fact that the DA wants to take someone whom they themselves claim is corrupt to the highest legislative body in this land proves that they have no interest in routing out corruption but instead they reward it based on factionalism. The ANC will not allow the Democratic Alliance to use this water crisis as an opportunity to fight their factional fights.
The factional battles in the DA and the lack of leadership in containing the collateral damage; has had a devastating effect on ordinary residents in the City. The maladministration and rampant corruption in the DA adversely affects the poor and the working class the most. The DA has failed to come with a strategy which will ensure that those who live in poverty are not adversely affected by this water crisis. Instead, they handed out free water buckets to the people of Constantia. The possible health impact on the poor as a result of this water crisis cannot be overstated yet there is still no plan in place to avert such.
The DA has prioritised factionalism over the needs of the people of the Western Cape. They are collectively responsible for this water crisis. It is for this reason that the ANC will have to withdraw its motion of no confidence in today’s council meeting and instead call for the national government through minister of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs to revoke section 100 of the constitution and put both City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Provincial Administration to be placed under administration by National Government.
We would like to state clearly that our vote of no confidence is directed to Patricia De Lille as DA appointed mayor including her DA collective consisting of the DA deputy Mayor Nielsen who chairs financial committee of this city and the entire mayoral committee which is collectively responsible for this mess . We will not allow DA to use our motion to fight its own destructive and racist internal battles at the expense of the people of this city .
Issued by Khaya Yozi, ANC DOR Spokesperson, 31 January 2018
