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2019 could be a big year for De Lille’s comeback

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It has been a difficult past year politically for former Mayor of Cape Town, Patricia de Lille.  De Lille will contest this year’s elections under a new political party.

Her move from the Democratic Alliance (DA) in October has set tongues wagging on whether she’ll attract the much needed coloured- vote from the party.

When she made the announcement to resign as Cape Town mayor, De Lille said, ” I would like to inform the public that I will be resigning tonight effective at 19:00. Yesterday, the speaker announced that I had resigned. He was lying – a blatant lie. You know he is also asking for his supper now because they have asked him to leave by December. So here is my resignation letter that I am going to sign now.”

De Lille’s been at loggerheads with the DA for months. Legal battles between the two sides took numerous twists and turns after attempts by the party to get rid of its mayor for various allegations, including graft.

De Lille vowed to clear her name after council adopted two reports in October by law firm, Bowman Gillfillan.  The speaker laid criminal charges against her.

The DA wished her will after she resigned. Deputy Chairperson of the DA Federal Council Natasha Mazzone in a statement said, “The Democratic Alliance welcomes the fact that this terrible time in our history has come to an end. We welcome the resignation. However much Ms De Lille vilifies the party we’d like to emphasize that we wish her well in her future endeavours.”

De Lille did not go alone, eight other councillors resigned to show their support for her.

Following the swearing in of the new mayor Dan Plato, he promised to reunite the DA in council and put the needs of Capetonians first.

In the middle of December, De Lille announced a political comeback with the launch of a new party.  De Lille co- founded the Independent Democrats (ID) until the party amalgamated with the DA in 2010.

On launching her new party, De Lille said she was approached by many political parties but turned them down to go it alone.

It remains to be seen whether her new party will make a huge impact on the political landscape come 2019.

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