Thoughts on South African and international politics and culture

Thursday, March 16, 2006

De Lille's Disaster
As the dust settles on the Cape Town government structure, the big story is not so much about the DA's welcome return, but Patricia de Lille's selling of her soul. Campaigning on the back of a promise of aggressive opposition to the ANC, she colluded with the ANC on a number of major votes leading up to the mayoral race, a decision that has driven a wedge between the ID and its voting electorate. A group of disgruntled ID supporters has even threatened to take De Lille to court, such is their anguish. This will have long-standing consequences for De Lille, and her excessive self-importance has finally caught up with her. This is a politician that will do anything to stay in the headlines, a wannabe-celebrity who puts her media face time well ahead of the needs of her electorate. My only fear is that without a deal reached for governing the Western Cape, we will be subjected to many hung decisions in De Lille's quest for personal publicity.

In the meantime, Helen Zille seems to be making all the right noises, reviewing all previous contracts undertaken by the Mfeketo office (I'm sure they'll find a few interesting things there) and vowing to introduce a strict corporate performance culture into the mayoral office. One thing is for sure, things can only get better.

|