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The DA notes Mayor Patricia De Lille’s urgent court interdict against the Democratic Alliance (DA) lodged this afternoon and our legal representatives are now dealing with this matter.

However, it is important to dispel a number of inaccuracies in the Mayor’s statement. In as so far as the free vote is concerned, the DA is a party which respects and upholds the Constitution. In the interest of the rule of law, we have not instructed councillors to vote in any particular way as per the Constitutional Court’s judgment in United Democratic Movement (UDM) v Speaker, National Assembly and Others 2017, in particular, how this applies to municipal councils.

In as so far as the secret ballot is concerned, this is a decision to be taken by the Council and not the DA. Their voting is done either by a show of hands, electronic voting or any other method decided by Council.

Therefore, the Mayor’s ‘urgent’ application is puzzling at best and vexatious at worst.

Issued by DA