Cape Town - While her hold on Cape Town’s mayoral chain remains tenuous, at best, Patricia de Lille insists the DA hand over the evidence, which forms the basis of the Steenhuisen report, into allegations of malfeasance at the City.
On Friday, De Lille fired off another salvo in which she attacked the party’s second deputy federal chairperson, Natasha Mazzone, for her comments outside the Western Cape High Court.
“In response to Natasha Mazzone’s statement yesterday, I would like to once again help her understand my matter with the DA. I have the Steenhuisen report and so have journalists as the DA circulated it.
“My court case is about the evidence that led to the findings of the report, not the report itself. The report and the evidence are two separate things.”
Earlier this week, the same court ruled the DA had failed to adhere to its own constitution after its Federal Legal Commission stripped De Lille of her party membership. In a radio interview, De Lille said she would only “resign” from the party after she had been cleared in a disciplinary process.
The DA accuses De Lille of covering up corruption and nepotism at the City of Cape Town. One of the accusations is she had tried to influence the appointment of the city manager to favour Achmat Ebrahim, who was appointed. He resigned in January amid allegations of misconduct.
DA spokesperson Solly Malatsi said the High Court would have to decide whether De Lille gets access to the evidence in the party’s case against her. “There are City officials whose identity has to be protected in terms of the ‘Whistleblowers Act’ (Protected Disclosures Act). That is the issue.”