DAVE CHAMBERS: What exactly does Patricia De Lille's 'sorry, not sorry' mean?
Maimane apologised for “a difficult chapter in our history”; De Lille did not. She said she had “cleared her name”
EXTRACT
Many questions were left unanswered at the midday media scrum. Where were federal council chairperson James Selfe and his deputy, Natasha Mazzone, who have been at the forefront of the party’s efforts to rid itself of De Lille? Will there be consequences for them? Will De Lille move to another political role in the party? Who will take over as mayor?
Maimane made it clear that he had taken on the role of peacemaker. “A lot has taken place this week,” he said. “I came and intervened and took direct action.”
What had he learnt? “That attempting to resolve political matters in a court process is not helpful.”
Sunday morning was wet but Patricia de Lille was wearing yellow, and it turned out to be a bright, sunshiney day for the DA. After 13 months of accusations, denials, investigations, hearings, court cases, votes of no-confidence and disciplinary hearings, both sides laid down their political weapons and said they’d had enough. Sitting alongside each other for the first time in months, De Lille and DA leader Mmusi Maimane said they had struck a peace deal, which means the mayor’s disciplinary hearing will not go ahead this month and she will vacate the mayor’s office on October 31. Maimane apologised for “a difficult chapter in our history”; De Lille did not. She said she had “cleared her name”; Maimane did not. Maimane said De Lille had led the City of Cape Town since 2011 with distinction “for the most part”; De Lille said she had “grown a lot, learned a lot”.But whatever the remaining points of difference between them, this was clearly the end of a messy sideshow that did neither s...
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