Judgment has been reserved in the High Court application of Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille challenging her expulsion from the DA. A full bench of judges has reserved the matter until a later date.
De Lille’s legal team argued that her expulsion from the party was illegal and unconstitutional. De Lille was reinstated as mayor by the court pending the outcome of her court application.
The DA caucus recently voted to strip her of her executive powers.
In his closing remarks, DA legal counsel Sean Rosenberg has asked the High court not to ignore the fact that De Lille did indicate publicly her intention to resign from the party.
Rosenberg spent the entire day defending the DA’s decison to terminate De Lille membership. This is after she stated in a radio interview that she will walk away after clearing her name.
Her radio interview came under scrutiny and Rosenberg argued that it’s clear that De Lille only planned to remain in the party for as long as it would take to restore her name. He says it’s clear from the interview that the relationship between her and the party was irretrievably broken down. He further argued that it was exacerbated by serious allegations of maladministration and nepotism.
“If the court finds the termination was correct, and there was a public declaration that can’t be ignored, if it find the process was non compliant in any way must take both of those factors into account.”
Rosenberg has also asked the court to dismiss De Lille’s application with costs.
Earlier, legal team for De Lille led by senior advocate Dali Mpofu argued on the validity and the constitutionality of the cessation clause. In his closing argument, Mpofu has asked the court to set aside the DA decision to terminate De Lille’s membership.
Judgement on the matter has been reserved for a later date. Judge Andre le Grange indicated that it will be hopefully before the end of the month.
