Premier Helen Zille’s term as Western Cape provincial premier ends in 2019 – she is constitutionally constrained from sitting for a further, third, term. Until the resignation at the weekend of Patricia de Lille it was widely believed that De Lille would move from the mayoral office in Cape Town to the Premier’s mansion at Leeuwenhof when Zille is forced to vacate it.
That prospect it much diminished now. Actually it is probably out with the baby’s bathwater. It means that someone else will have to fill Zille’s shoes. Significantly Western Cape Human Settlements MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela is De Lille’s deputy provincial leader. He will act as leader as from Wednesday. It is not clear if Madikizela has the support of the party in the province to take on the role of provincial leadership permanently – and, as a likely consequence – of premier. But his chances have certainly been raised.
De Lille would have made the most likely contender to take over from Zille, but clearly something – or a few things – significant have derailed that. She served for a spell as MEC in Zille’s government on her way to becoming Mayor of Cape Town. De Lille, of course, replaced Zille as mayor – although there was a seat-warmer in between – Dan Plato. Plato is now in the provincial cabinet, but he is unlikely to end up as premier.
One hears rumours that the weekly ‘de-briefing’ Zille/de Lille breakfasts are no more. There was trouble, it is said between them over the poo thrower being appointed to the city administration on a salary of some R700 000 a year. When I asked Zille about this issue – whether an ex-poo thrower should keep his job in the DA city administration – at her book launch last October Not Without a Fight, Zille declined to comment. It clearly was a point of contention even then. The poo thrower (and former ANC councillor), Loyiso Nkohla, remains in his job.
In recent weeks there has been much dissension in the DA Cape Town metro caucus – the DA city councillors representing wards and proportional council lists. In one sub-council, the party’s choice of candidate for sub-council chairperson – a sort of mini-mayor – in the Kuils River area lost to an outsider. Four councillors were suspended. They remain suspended. Another matter which has muddied the DA political waters for De Lille has been the decision by the DA federal legal commission to find two councillors guilty of not following procurement rules in the city. This relates to the two councillors – DA chief whip Shaun August and DA councillor Matthew Kempthorne – who procured party T-shirts during the 2016 municipal election campaign without following the party’s tender processes.
The two were fined R50 000 each, an amount which they can pay over 10 months. The two have been given suspended membership terminations. August was appointed chief whip by De Lille after the municipal elections in 2016. In terms of the termination rules, a councillor who is found guilty of a second offence during the next five years will be kicked out of the party – and would lose all positions.
DA is struggling to keep extended caucus happy
De Lille indicated that she was changing her mayoral committee in line with the restructuring of the city. It was during the in-fighting in the city caucus as ambitious mayoral committee members and aspirant committee members flexed their muscles, that JP Smith, the mayoral committee member for security, beat De Lille’s favoured candidate for caucus chairperson. Smith beat Brett Herron, the mayoral committee member for transport services. Herron had significantly gained top spot on the party’s list for the Cape Town city council.
He was also a leading member of De Lille previous political home, the Independent Democrats. Smith also put up a fight for his job as security mayoral committee member. De Lille wanted to move him out to a new position on the mayoral committee. He would have none of it and fought aggressively to keep his job. In the end he kept his job when the committee was announced two weeks ago – Monday 16 January. Not only that, he has more portfolios under his hat. Significantly the mayor noted in a media release on 16 January that the chief whip – August – was an observer at mayoral committee meetings.
It is clear that the DA is struggling to keep its various factions happy particularly in a big city council caucus. The Independent Democrat faction – which also includes informal settlements, water and waste services, energy mayral committee member (and rumoured possible future mayor) Xanthia Limberg – and the Democratic Party faction as well as the old National Party grouping who joined the Democratic Alliance as far back as 2000.
DA in the Western Cape at ‘tipping point’ says ANC
Of course, the African National Congress has put a different spin on events. It is a spin which is probably largely wrong, but has elements of truth to it. The Western Cape ANC – which was thrashed in local government elections in Cape Town last August – believes De Lille’s resignation from the DA provincial leadership is “a tipping point”. The ANC is correct that it is probably a mask for De Lille to cite a need “to focus on her work” in the city of Cape Town as the reason her leaving the provincial leadership post. De Lille said the responsibility of a two-thirds majority in the city of Cape Town weighed on her. De Lille annouonced her resignation as provincial leader after meeting DA leader Mmusi Maimane.
De Lille had been a good mayor, ANC acting chairman Khaya Magaxa told News24. But the “ultimate fear of the DA establishment” – he means ‘white’ establishment – was that the Western Cape DA stronghold must remain “in white hands”. The success of coloured leaders would mean “there will never be another white leader in the heart of the DA” in the province, Magaxa said.
Zille herself has acknowledged that it is easier for a black leader to make progress in the DA than a white leader. There seems, indeed, to a shortage of coloured leaders in particular, but the ANC are probably quite wrong in believing that the party wants another white leader to replace Zille. Lennit Max, a former MEC, was roundly defeated in 2015 for the provincial leadership by De Lille. It is known that he wants to run again. Significantly, he was previously an Independent Democrats MP. He crossed the floor to the DA before De Lille could remove him. When he left the ID, he was under suspension and faced a disciplinary procedure for indiscipline.
The good political money is likely to fall behind Madikizela now, although he does not have a significant public – or even internal party – presence. However, he is the right colour – black – and has a track record as an MEC. He has also climbed the party ladder slowly and carefully. It may be his ‘time’.
- This article first appeared in The Cape Messenger
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