Yonela Diko‚ the ruling party’s provincial spokesperson‚ complained on Twitter of traffic snarl-ups in the Mother City: “But this City is not working to you. How can every car be on stand still. @helenzille @PatriciaDeLille #PoorRobbotCoordinationAndPlacing”.
Zille shot back that Diko should look to his party’s leader for a reason‚ tweeting: “Lol! ANC spokesman (below) is enraged at the traffic jam. It was caused by the rehearsal for President Zuma's state of the nation speech!”
The City of Cape Town had announced that there would be road closures from Tuesday as rehearsals for Thursday’s event would get underway.
JD Haasbroek @JDHaasbroek latched onto the argument‚ and told Zille: “@helenzille @yonela_diko @PatriciaDeLille Not true. I agree. C.T. lights settings terrible. Buitengracht clogged every day.”
De Lille took a more diplomatic approach‚ and replied: “@JDHaasbroek Hi there‚ please send details of the exact sets of lights‚ along with your contact number to @CityofCT so they may assist.”
She also told Diko that‚ to overcome the limitations of Twitter communications‚ she had replied to him via a direct message: “@yonela_diko Hi Yonela‚ please see your DMs for a response longer than 140 characters. Thank you”.
Diko seemed to appreciate the mayor’s attitude‚ and posted: “Contrasting your response with De Lille's you can just see who is mature. @helenzille @PatriciaDeLille”
But‚ then crowed: “Hahaha... and then she sends the longest apology.. DM Mayored”.
De Lille last week resigned as the Democratic Alliance’s provincial head‚ saying she wanted to focus on her role as Cape Town mayor‚ although many speculated that her move was sparked by a fight over her ambition to take over the premiership from Zille.
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