Mayor Patricia de Lille Mayor Patricia de Lille
Zara Nicholson
Metro Writer
CAPE Town mayor Patricia de Lille could be in hot water for breaching the council’s code of conduct.
During a heated council meeting yesterday, ANC leader in council Tony Ehrenreich raised the alarm over De Lille breaching the council’s code of conduct by releasing a statement to the media over a confidential council item.
In the statement, De Lille said the settlement of a dispute about the fees paid to a team appointed to supervise the construction of Cape Town Stadium had led to a reduction in costs for the city.
“According to the contracts that were entered into between the city and the professional team, the professional fees could have amounted to R637.3 million but this has been settled at a professional fee of R585m, including disbursements for the stadium and surrounds,” De Lille said.
The matter had been referred for mediation and arbitration and was due to return to arbitration on appeal when a settlement was reached between the parties.
Later in council Ehrenreich raised the red flag, saying: “We believe a statement has been sent to the media a few minutes ago quoting the mayor.
“This is in contravention of the rules of the house. The mayor is out of order.”
Ehrenreich said rules had been violated “because the mayor is making a public statement on a confidential matter”.
Speaker Dirk Smit said: “It would be a gross breach of conduct if statements on the matter have been made in the media.”
The DA was silent on the issue in council.
The ANC later released a statement saying the “supposed confidential agreement” between the city and the professional services company hid many irregularities.
“The manner in which the mayor has pushed through this matter is a clear attempt to hide something. The mayor’s conduct is also in violation of the rules of council, with her releasing confidential information to the media. The extent of her public statement (is) clearly an attempt at damage control for inappropriate behaviour of the city with professional services,” the ANC said.
zara.nicholson@inl.co.za