Patricia de Lille has rejected an offer by the DA to keep the position of mayor and councillor open pending a court hearing into the mayor's dismissal from the party, Eyewitness News (EWN) reported.
De Lille has launched an urgent application in the high court, set down for Friday, to have her dismissal from the DA set aside.
In court papers, the DA reportedly agreed not to appoint a mayor for a period of three months. De Lille's seat as a councillor will remain vacant under the agreement. De Lille also wants the clause of the DA constitution under which she was fired declared unconstitutional. If she succeeds in this, the DA reportedly says she can return to her position as councillor and mayor, and rejoin the party.
But De Lille told EWN that she had rejected the offer.
"I rejected that yesterday. I must just have a response from my lawyers, then I'll respond," she reportedly said.
De Lille was fired from the DA after telling talk show host Eusebius McKaiser that she would resign from the party once her name is cleared.
According to TimesLive, De Lille's application on Friday is to interdict the party from declaring a mayoral vacancy until she can contest the issue of her dismissal in court.
She reportedly said in court papers that the party had a "burning desire to replace me as mayor". In response, the DA reportedly said it proposed the offer of keeping the mayoral and councillor seats vacant to "avoid the need for unnecessary and costly litigation".
"...the effect will be that [De Lille] will not be a member of the DA‚ a councillor or the mayor. However‚ the seat she occupied on the council will remain vacant" until finalisation of certain court proceedings, the party reportedly said.
But De Lille will argue on Friday that the "status quo should be preserved" while the hearing into the legality of the DA's decision to fire her is heard, News24 reported. Her legal team reportedly wants the court to stop the Cape Town city manager from telling the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) that there is a vacancy in the council.
The DA reportedly said "the horse has already bolted", that it has already spoken to the IEC, and said that it was happy to debate the legal questions around her removal in court, but not on an urgent basis on Friday.