Cape Town - Mayor Patricia de Lille was cagey when asked on Wednesday whether she would be leaving office at the end of the month.
De Lille reacted for the first time to the allegations levelled against her in the law firm Bowman Gilfillan’s report into maladministration and corruption and on reports that she would not be leaving office on October 31, as agreed with the DA months ago.
“That was Rodney Lentit who said that I will be not be resigning. I had a conversation with him while in Amsterdam (waiting for a flight) where he told me: ‘Should they continue with charging you, you should stay on as mayor.’ That was a statement by Rodney,” she said.
Asked outright if she will be going, De Lille said: “No, no, no, I am following due process. My lawyers have written to Bowmans to seek clarity.
“Everyone is speaking as if the end of the month is tomorrow. The end of the month is next week, Wednesday.”
Asked again if she’d be leaving, she said: “No, no, no.”
Pressed again, De Lille again said: “No, no, no, I am taking it one day at a time.”
Patricia #DeLille spells out her immediate future. Will she vacate the mayor's office come October 31?
Video: @JasonFelix @IOL pic.twitter.com/BXPHgkKfg8
— Cape Argus (@TheCapeArgus) October 24, 2018
Lentit, a close confidant, claimed De Lille was considering his advice not to step down.
Bowmans’ report into corruption and maladministration at the City of Cape Town will be before the council today and councillors will have to consider if criminal charges should be pursued against De Lille, mayco member for transport and urban development Brett Herron and suspended transport commissioner Melissa Whitehead.
Compiled by compiled by lawyer Randall van Voore, the 2000-page report into the suspected acts of corruption relates to a tender for electric buses by Chinese manufacturer BYD, and De Lille preventing former City manager Achmat Ebrahim from reporting irregularities with a R40million tender to procure bus chassis from Volvo.
De Lille said Bowmans overreached their mandate approved by the council on January 5.
“The initial report issued on December 29, 2017 made a number of ‘factual findings’ which were inaccurate or simply baseless. I wrote to them on January 3, requesting them to retract a number “recommendations” on issues on which they had not even questioned me,” De Lille said.