Patricia de Lille

De Lille at the Nelson Mandela memorial concert at the Cape Town Stadium in 2013

De Lille was born in 1951 in Beaufort West, and attended Bastiaanse Hoërskool.[9] In 1974 she became a laboratory technician at a factory. She remained involved with the same company until 1990.[9] During this time, she became involved in the South African Chemical Workers Union, starting off as a shop steward and then becoming regional secretary, before being elected as a National Executive Member in 1983.[9] In 1988, she was elected as National Vice-President of The National Council of Trade Unions (NACTU), the highest position for a woman in the trade union movement at that time.[9]

In 1989, De Lille was elected onto the National Executive Committee of the Pan Africanist Movement (PAM). She led a delegation in the constitutional negotiations that preceded South Africa's first democratic election in 1994, and following her election as a Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) MP,[10] she was appointed as Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Transport from 1994 to 1999. She also served on various portfolio Committees including Health, Minerals and Energy, Trade and Industry, Communications, the Rules Committee and the Code of Ethics.[9]

Later, she made use of parliamentary privilege to be a whistle-blower on the South African Arms Deal.

In 2003, De Lille made use of a floor crossing window to break with the PAC, and form her own party, the Independent Democrats.[10]

De Lille was awarded the Freedom of the City of Birmingham, Alabama, and in 2004 was awarded the honour of being one of the Top 5 Women in Government and Government Agencies.[15] She was also awarded the 2004 Old Mutual South African Leadership Award in the Category of Woman Leadership.[16]

De Lille was voted 22nd in the Top 100 Great South Africans, and is noted for her role in investigations into the country's controversial Arms Deal.[3]

In July 2006 she was the first woman to be recognised as Honorary Colonel of 84 Signal Unit in the South African National Defence Force.[17] In August 2006 she received the City Press and Rapport Newspaper award as one of top 10 women in South Africa.[18]

A Markinor survey conducted in 2004 found that De Lille was South Africa's favourite politician after Thabo Mbeki.[19]

De Lille with DA Leader Helen Zille, 2010.

On 13 August 2010, after meetings with both the DA and ID executive, it was decided that the ID would indeed merge with the DA. On 15 August 2010, De Lille and DA Leader Helen Zille announced to the public that the ID would join the DA.[20]

During the 2004 general election, disgruntled former members of the Independent Democrats accused her of running the party in a "undemocratic" manner – in direct contrast with the image of transparency and accountability that she grounded her party on. De Lille told reporters that the dissenters had been fired from the party for fraud and corruption.[21]

As Mayor of Cape Town, De Lille has been perceived to have had a conflict of interest regarding the private sector developments by friends of hers in Clifton.[22] As mayor, De Lille was accused by businessman Anthony Faul of demanding an R5 million bribe so as to secure a procurement contract to supply fire extinguishers in 2013.[23]

In September 2017, De Lille controversially ordered that the City of Cape Town's special investigations unit be closed against the wishes of the city's committee member for safety, security and social services Jean-Pierre Smith.[24][25] The closure of the investigative unit led to allegations that de Lille improperly benefited from security upgrades at public expense to her home. The security upgrades allegations were investigated by the auditor-general and dismissed.[26]

Following the closure of the unit and a breakdown in the working relationship between De Lille and Smith, the Democratic Alliance charged De Lille with misconduct amid allegations against her of intimidation, criminality and misconduct.[25]

On 15 February 2018, she survived a vote of no confidence by one vote (110 no votes, 109 yes votes and 3 abstentions).[27] Following the no confidence vote, an internal vote within the DA caucus governing the City of Cape Town occurred on 25 April 2018. A majority of the DA councillors voted for the removal of De Lille as mayor.[28]

On 8 May 2018, the DA's Federal Executive terminated De Lille's membership. Federal executive chairperson James Selfe said De Lille's membership was terminated after an interview De Lille did with Radio 702 radio host Eusebius McKaiser, where she said that she would resign once she had cleared her name. Her expulsion from the Democratic Alliance meant that she could no longer remain as mayor of Cape Town.[4] The Western Cape High Court temporarily suspended her removal,[6] and heard arguments about her removal on 4–5 June 2018.[29] The Cape Town City Council voted on 31 May 2018 to strip De Lille of her executive powers.[30] On 27 June 2018, the Western Cape High Court voted unanimously to reinstate De Lille's party membership, finding that the DA had failed to follow its own constitution when it invoked its cessation clause against De Lille. In July 2018, a vote of no confidence was scheduled, but was later withdrawn.[31]

On 5 August 2018, the Democratic Alliance National Leader, Mmusi Maimane, announced at a joint news conference that the party had reached a "mutual agreement" with De Lille. The agreement being that De Lille would resign as Mayor of Cape Town and that the party would withdraw all internal charges against her. She would also remain a member of the Democratic Alliance. The announcement of her resignation came a day before the party's disciplinary proceedings would have started.

The African National Congress Cape Town Caucus described the agreement as "illicit" and stated that the resignation "opens a backdoor for a different mayor other than the one people voted for."[32][33][34]

In September 2018, the Democratic Alliance announced that Dan Plato would succeed De Lille. She left office on 31 October 2018. She also resigned as a member of the Democratic Alliance.

When De Lille resigned as Mayor of Cape Town, she mentioned that she would take two weeks off of public life, while she writes her book and evaluates her choices. It was suspected de Lille would either revive her old political party, the Independent Democrats, or either join the African National Congress or the Economic Freedom Fighters.

On 18 November 2018, De Lille launched the "For Good" political movement and website. She said at the event that she would form a new political party.[35][36][37]

On 2 December 2018, De Lille announced the formation of a new political party named, Good. Other disgruntled former Democratic Alliance members, such as Brett Herron and Shaun August, were present at the event. She also said that the political party is registered with the IEC and would contest the 2019 general election.[38][7]

De Lille was announced as the Good Party's Western Cape Premier candidate on 10 February 2019.[39] On 16 February 2019, she officially launched the "Aunty Pat for Premier Campaign" in Wesbank near Delft outside Cape Town.[40]

Following the May 2019 general elections, De Lille was sworn in as a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa, and was appointed Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

De Lille's husband, Edwin, died after a long illness on 7 February 2021. They were married for 49 years and had one son, Allistair.[41]

• City Mayors' Mayor of the Month for May 2013
• Patricia de Lille at People's Assembly