Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille feels vindicated, after the high court in Cape Town ruled in her favour on Wednesday, Business Day reported. De Lille took the DA to court to force her party to ensure that councillors could vote with their consciences in a motion of no confidence vote against her on Thursday.
According to Business Day, De Lille said, "So my lawyers will now write to the speaker (of the council) and say to him, 'the court said you must use your discretion whether you must have a secret vote and then consider the conditions under which this decision must be made."
De Lille reportedly received a tip-off that DA federal executive chairman James Selfe felt that in terms of the DA's constitution, all DA caucus members had to vote according to the party line, in supporting the motion of no confidence.
According to TimesLive, the motion of no confidence, brought by the DA, follows months of accusations against De Lille by her own party, including allegations of maladministration and corruption. De Lille, in turn, accuses the party of bullying and for trying to oust her for political reasons.
She told TimesLive, "This is not about me. I want to make sure that councillors exercise their right to vote and that they do so without fear of intimidation because there has been a lot of intimidation. To give an example‚ last year both the speaker of council and the chief whip of the council were perceived to be close to the mayor and the next thing they were served with notices. So there is fear in our own caucus."
De Lille approached the court on an urgent basis on February 8, News24 reported. She will have to resign if the motion against her is successful, and her mayoral committee will also be dissolved.
The ANC previously tabled a motion of no confidence against her but this was withdrawn.