The Cape Town city council has declared a lack of confidence in their firebrand leader Patricia de Lille, the first step in a series to come which, if the DA gets its way, will lead to the embattled mayor being expelled from her position.
News24 reported that 138 councillors debated on her future in the Cape Town council chamber for three hours on Wednesday evening. In a statement from the DA afterwards, the party revealed that 97 councillors eventually voted in support of the motion.
The matter will now move upwards to the DA's federal executive, to which De Lille will be expected to make representations on why she should not step down.
But De Lille is resilient; a trait seen throughout her political career. She has already indicated through media statements and via social media that she is gearing up for a political battle.
Early political career
Patricia de Lille first entered the political arena as a shop steward for the South African Chemical Workers' Union (SACWU). She later became the regional secretary, and thereafter served on the union's national executive committee (NEC).
Eventually, she ended up in the National Council of Trade Unions (NACTU) in Western Cape, which was affiliated to the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC).
In 1989, she was elected to the NEC of the Pan Africanist Movement (PAM), a wing of the PAC. When the PAC and other political organisations were unbanned in 1990, she was appointed foreign secretary and relief and aid secretary of the party.
During the Codesa negotiations, De Lille led the PAC delegation. After the first democratic elections, she was appointed a member of Parliament. Between 1994 and 1999, she was the chairperson of the transport committee and the chief whip for the PAC in Parliament.
She also served in various portfolio committees,including health, mineral and energy, trade and industry, communication, the rules committee and the code of ethics committee.
The Independent Democrats
Ironically, De Lille used the very same rule of floor crossing that she fiercely opposed in Parliament to break away from the Pan Africanist Congress and form her own political party, the Independent Democrats, in 2003.
The party was the first political party in South Africa to be led by a woman that contested elections and won seats.
In 2004, De Lille was elected chancellor of the Durban University of Technology (DUT).
She has been vocal on many sensitive issues — such as corruption, HIV/Aids, women and child abuse, children in prison, xenophobia and poverty.
Forming the Democratic Alliance
Despite the influence and momentum that De Lille's party had managed to attract as the ID, she made an interesting political move.
In 2010, the ID merged with the Democratic Alliance (DA), realising it would be a stronger force against the ANC.Helen Zille, at the time leader of DA, said she hoped their alliance would capitalise on growing frustrations with the ANC over crime and the provision of education, healthcare and electricity.
At the time, South Africa was facing its first recession in 17 years, under the presidency of Jacob Zuma.
De Lille has served the party ever since in various positions, and is currently the mayor of Cape Town.
The Arms Deal
De Lille was the initial whistleblower on the infamous arms-deal corruption.
Formally known as the strategic defence package, the arms deal was a multibillion-rand military acquisition project finalised in 1999 by the South African government.
The deal gave rise to major corruption and excessive public spending — two problems that persist today in government.
Controversies
During the 2004 general election, disgruntled former members of the ID accused De Lille of running the party in a "undemocratic" manner.
De Lille told reporters that the dissenters had been fired from the party for fraud and corruption.
As mayor of Cape Town, De Lille has been accused of a conflict of interest regarding private-sector developments in Clifton by friends of hers.
She was investigated by the party and formally charged with misconduct, following recommendations by the party's federal executive subcommittee.
A leaked subcommittee document alleged that De Lille had interfered in appointments of senior management, had an irrational, autocratic and divisive leadership style, and stripped key decision-making structures of their power.
Accolades
She was awarded the HIV/Aids activist award by Canadian-based organisation South African Women For Women, and is one of only five South Africans honoured with the freedom of the city of Birmingham, Alabama, a major location associated with the U.S. civil rights struggle.
In 2004, De Lille was named one of the Top Five Women in Government and Government Agencies. She was also awarded the 2004 Old Mutual South African Leadership Award in the category of woman leadership.
In July 2006, she became the first woman to be recognised as an honorary colonel of 84 Signal Unit in the South African National Defence Force.
In August 2006, she received the City Press and Rapport newspaper award as one of top 10 women in South Africa.
A Markinor survey conducted in 2004 found that De Lille was South Africa's favourite politician after Thabo Mbeki.