Letter from Cape Town ANC Councillor Xolani Sotashe to Mayor Patricia de Lille, October 5 2011:

From: Xolani Sotashe
Sent: 05 October 2011 08:20 PM
To: Patricia De Lille
Subject: Non attendance of ANC at mayco meetings

Good evening Madam Mayor,

Subsequent to your appeal that all councillors must attend committee meetings we wish to express our disappointment as ANC when we attended mayco meeting in September month where Dr Borain was presenting economic development strategic plan we not allowed to ask questions on the presentation.

 We viewed that as clamping down on opposition because since we first attended the first mayco meeting and participated some were not happy with our presence. We have raised this matter with the speaker and the chief whip of council because ours is to contribute constructively in any debate where we must robust we will do so without fear.

We want you as the person responsible for mayco meetings to explain our role as an opposition in mayco meetings. We also wish to register that we won't be able to attended mayco meetings as spectators. We want to contribute in any discussion. We hope that you will treat this as progressive appeal.

Regards

Cllr Sotashe(on behalf of ANC caucus)

Reply from Patricia de Lille, October 19 2011:

19 October 2011

Dear Cllr. Sotashe,

Your letter of the 11 October, 2011, ‘Non attendance of ANC at mayco meetings [sic],' refers.

I would like to thank you for writing to me, asking me to clarify the role of the opposition at Mayco meetings.

In many ways, the members of the Mayco have a direct responsibility for service delivery, in tandem with the attendant and different powers of the full Council and the City bureaucracy.

To pursue the agenda of service delivery, it is necessary that the Mayco meets to deliberate decisions and reach consensus when governing.

In accordance with relevant legislation, it is the prerogative of the Executive Mayor to appoint the members of the Mayco.

They are political appointments. Once appointed, and in accordance with legislation, the meetings of the Mayco are held to discuss official business and provide a forum whereby members of the Mayco can engage with each other and relevant officials.

In terms of our legal framework, that is the mandate of the Mayco once constituted as a structure of the government.

Cape Town under the DA is the only metro in the country where these deliberations are open to the public. You are no doubt aware that in metros run by the ANC, such meetings are closed, secretive affairs.

In a democracy, when a political party receives a mandate to govern from the majority of the electorate, it constitutes the government and its structures as it sees fit.

As the head of the majority caucus in the City of Cape Town Council, I was thus duly empowered to appoint my Mayco to fulfil that mandate. Naturally, only members of the majority party were chosen.

By definition, the opposition does not have a voice on the Mayco.

The opposition exists as a counterweight to the government and its structures, holding them to account and providing a balance of power in a democracy.

This is how competitive democracy works at all levels of government in South Africa.

For instance, the national cabinet solely comprises of members of the national majority party.

However, that need not be the end of it. If you wish to serve on this Mayco, the first step would be to become a DA member.

Yours sincerely,

Ald. Patricia de Lille

Executive Mayor of Cape Town

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