De Lille pledges to be a servant of the people

PATRICIA de Lille made her acceptance speech to a handful of tired reporters and election officials on Friday evening after a voting glitch had repeatedly delayed the final results of the Cape Town mayoral race.

With the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) under pressure to dismantle the Western Cape results centre, chief electoral officer Courtney Sampson consulted the ANC and, with 1.5% of the votes being recounted, announced: "We can safely assume that Patricia de Lille will be the new mayor of the city of Cape Town."

De Lille had steered the DA to its first outright victory in a metropolitan council with about 62% of the vote to the ANC's 32%.

"I pledge to be a servant of the people and to put the people first at all times," she said in a short acceptance speech as officials began to unplug computers and take down banners.

Sampson said the result was delayed by the "gross negligence" of an official who had failed to submit results slips for a few voting stations, mainly in the townships of Khayelitsha and Guguletu. Officials decided to recount the votes in those areas.

He said he was confident it was not an attempt to sabotage the elections or a particular result, but that the official would face a police investigation and an internal disciplinary process.

De Lille told the Sunday Times her first priority as mayor would be to review the budget prepared, but not adopted, by the outgoing council. Her first project would be to expand a trial with 200 apprentices to all the service departments. With young matriculants being taken up in the roads, water, electricity and waste-disposal departments, the council should be able to train between 5000 and 10000 young people a year, she said.

She said that though she would have the final say on who joins her mayoral committee, the DA had already appointed a committee of local and national leaders to advise her on the choice.

In contrast to DA leader Helen Zille, who took flak for appointing a provincial cabinet largely made up of white men, De Lille said her committee would mirror the community.

"It must be representative in terms of gender and the demographics of the Cape."

She conceded that she would take over a functional administration that would need little change, but added that she would put her personal commitment to the fight against poverty first.

"I want to focus on economic growth, on attracting more investment that can create jobs. But my focus will always be on alleviating and reducing poverty," she said.

Job creation and poverty reduction are not typical municipal functions, but De Lille said the constitution made them everybody's business. She would try to integrate the work of the city with that of the DA-controlled province wherever possible to increase efficiency and cut wasteful spending.

She would try to replicate a co-operation protocol she negotiated between the province and the city while she was MEC for social development in other departments that could share responsibilities.

At the level of the party leadership, she confirmed that Zille would be the undisputed leader of the DA when her own Independent Democrats had been fully absorbed by 2014.

But she said she expected to be able to influence the policy and direction of the DA from prominent positions in its structures and would encourage the Congress of the People (COPE) to sign up as well.

"The myth that imploded with this election is that the DA is a party for white people and the rich," she said.