Patricia won overwhelmingly so,” said DA leader Mmusi Maimane, calling De Lille a friend and pedigreed politician.
Maimane announced De Lille’s successful candidacy to media after candidates met with the DA’s electoral college who decided their fate.
De Lille faced four lesser known opponents – Guy Andrews, Daniel Jacobs, Peter Meakin, and Ursula Schenker. Schenker is probably the better known, notably for her work with the City’s elderly.
De Lille, who found her political footing as a Pan-Africanist, was the first female member of Parliament to start her own political party and was referred to by former president Nelson Mandela as a “strong-principled woman” and his favourite opposition politician.
De Lille has been mayor of Cape Town since the local government elections in 2011. In 2013, she won the title of the world’s Best Mayor.
Recently De Lille has found herself at the centre of controversy surrounding one of her councillors, Sam Pienaar.
Pienaar, a colonel in the apartheid army’s citizen force, admitted to the Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC) in 1997 that he had been part of the planning of the Trojan Horse Massacre which saw three Cape Flats youth murdered in Athlone. However, he told the TRC, the soldiers under his command were not involved in the massacre.
The TRC found that Pienaar had been involved in the planning of a gross violation but he was not prosecuted.
De Lille commented on the matter saying in 2011, when Pienaar became councillor, the responsibility lay with him to disclose his past.
According to De Lille, none of his apartheid history had been disclosed. Pienaar has since been issued with notice from the DA.
He is expected to explain why he should not be axed from the party by 5pm on Monday.
“He will have to face the consequences of his actions,” said De Lille. - ANA
