DA acts in the interest of a clean government that delivers for Cape Town

The DA’s Federal Executive became aware of the alleged existence of a number of issues in the DA’s City of Cape Town caucus including a series of reports and an affidavit containing troubling allegations of maladministration in the City.

Due to the nature and extent of such challenges, and the need for transparency and clarity, the Federal Executive resolved to establish a sub-committee to investigate the matter in a responsive and timely fashion.

The sub-committee has now completed its work, and has found sufficient management and governance-related challenges prevalent in the DA’s City of Cape Town caucus, negatively impacting the City’s mandate to govern efficiently for the people of Cape Town.

As an organisation, the DA prides itself on excellent governance standards, guided by the values of accountability and transparency. It was for this reason that the Leader directed the caucus of the COCT to establish an independent investigation to probe these allegations.

In the light of these developments, it was the view of the Federal Executive that the Mayor of Cape Town, Patricia De Lille, needed to be placed on suspension pending the outcome of these ongoing investigations. The Federal Executive has also asked her to supply reasons why she should not resign as the mayor. At this stage, no decision, other than suspension has been made, pending the provision of the reasons requested by the Federal Executive.

The DA remains committed to clean and efficient administrations where we govern. That is why it is of paramount importance that we get to the bottom of these allegations and swift leadership changes be made should they be found to be true so that our commitment to deliver to the people of Cape Town is not derailed.

We believe that this is the first step towards bringing new management to the City of Cape Town caucus that is stable, functional, and focused on delivering the highest quality of services to all of its residents.

Statement issued by Phumzile Van Damme MP – Democratic Alliance National Spokesperson, 14 December 2017