The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Wednesday said it was "disappointed that some sections" of the party were "ventilating their thoughts" about the fate of Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille, who has been the subject of a inquiry into possible wrongdoing.

De Lille has publicly denied any wrongdoing and rubbished suggestions that she may have "mismanaged her constituency".

James Selfe, MP and DA Federal Executive chairperson, said: "The matter is currently before the Federal Executive of the DA, as the highest decision making body of the party, which will meet on Sunday to thoroughly engage with all aspects of the allegations against the Executive Mayor and the divisions within that caucus."

"Ultimately, the DA will act in the best interests of the people of Cape Town and it is vital that this process is allowed to go ahead and not be prejudiced considering the serious nature of the allegations."

Earlier, the DA's Cape metro regional chairperson Grant Twigg said: "The executive in Cape Town met and discussed the possibility and we felt that as the leader of the city of Cape Town we have lost confidence in her and we asked the leadership to consider our recommendations to have her removed.”

However, De Lille is fighting back and in a hard-hitting statement disputed the claim by Twigg that the party's regional leadership had met and had called for her removal.

“Firstly, this statement does not represent the City of Cape Town DA caucus because they never met," De Lille said in a statement. “Secondly, after this statement by Grant Twigg was issued I received numerous calls from members from various branches of the DA saying that they have never been consulted on this statement by the Regional Executive, nor have they given them the mandate.”

In his statement, Twigg had said: "We are of the view that the City of Cape Town requires stability, unity and functionality, which we believe she (De Lille) cannot deliver."

De Lille though said that the regional executive chaired by Twigg was meant to represent DA branches as well as DA members. She added that “the regional executive therefore needs to provide the proof of when they met with the branches and what mandate they received from the branches”.

“It is only fair that this proof is provided to understand whether the DA members and branches were consulted,” she said.

“They can do this by providing a list of the meetings which took place when branches took decisions.”

The mayor also accused the DA regional executive of being confused about their role and function saying that the motion was yet another example of the flagrant disregard for process within the DA in their rush to get rid of her and make provincial DA leader Bonginkosi Madikizela the next mayor of the City.

“It illustrates my previous position that these attacks on me have been about power and positions all along. The regional executive should explain why they have chosen to only represent their jackets, considering that many branches and members are not in support of this so-called motion.”