De Lille to sue for defamation

Outgoing Cape Town Mayor, Patricia De Lille says she has instructed her lawyers to start litigation process against some Democratic Alliance (DA) MPs and councillors who she says defamed her name in public.

She was accused of corruption and maladministration in the City of Cape Town.

De Lille has now resigned as Mayor and will leave office on October 31 following an agreement between her and the DA.

She says her lawyers are busy with litigation papers.

“There is a simple principle that you are innocent until proven guilty. It is not my responsibility to prove my innocence. It is up to the DA to proof my guilt. I have been found guilty. My name has been smeared with these allegations being punched out there in the public as if it’s true… I have to clear my name.”

“Therefore there are many people that have in the past used these allegations against me as if they proved it. So I have instructed my lawyers to start civil litigation, so that we can also teach people not to do that to anybody else. If you don’t have any evidence, don’t make a statement in public because you will be called to prove it,” she adds.

De Lille answers a few questions on her resignation below: