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Today, 10 February 2010

› Zim law to force black rule

› Painting the Cape ANC

› Zuma's empty jobs promise

› Casinos' R143bn gamble

› SA to care for Zim's kids

Yesterday, 09 February 2010

› Strike three, Mr President

› Cooked head discovered

› Zuma apology 'unwelcome'

› 'Illegal' traps blasted

› Madiba to grace Parliament

Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille not only lost "power" but credibility as well in the race for the Cape Town metro governance, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said on Friday.

"Patricia de Lille and the ANC should have read their Shakespeare before coming to the Cape Town City Council chamber on Wednesday," he said in his weekly newsletter on the DA's website.

"The Ides of March is not traditionally a good day for incumbents.

"This time, however, it was democracy, and not treachery, that ended the reign of Nomaindia Mfeketo and put the DA's Helen Zille in the mayor's seat."

Zille's victory was one of the most exciting political episodes in recent South African history, he said.

There was, first of all, the drama of the day itself, when the "smug predictions" of the ANC and ID were overturned, Leon said, by the surprise revelation of an eleventh-hour coalition forged by the DA and the smaller parties.

Then there was the fact that the new coalition brought so many different parties together — liberal and religious, Afrikaans-speaking and Xhosa-speaking, Muslim and Christian.

They had a common purpose of building a new and better Cape Town, and ending corruption and bringing real service delivery to the city's people.

Leon said the outcome of the city council vote was never a certain thing.

"But two factors in the preceding days convinced many smaller parties that an ANC-ID coalition had to be prevented from taking power in Cape Town."

The first was the ANC's decision to re-nominate Mfeketo as its mayoral candidate.

Most Capetonians had been led to believe, according to Leon, that whether the ANC took control or not Mfeketo would be "redeployed" away from a post where she had clearly underperformed.

The ANC's poor showing at the polls in Cape Town had sent a strong signal that the people wanted a change of administration, Leon said.

But when the ANC "refused to listen", many people and parties that previously might have been willing to tolerate five more years of ANC rule began to reconsider.

ID leader Patricia de Lille had been on record saying "we are not going to back Nomaindia for mayor and that is non-negotiable".

However, she then decided to vote in support of Mfeketo's bid to retain the mayoralty.

"This kind of behaviour does terrible damage — not only to herself — but to all politicians.

"Unfortunately for her, and fortunately for the voters, De Lille was not actually the 'kingmaker' in Cape Town, because she failed to win enough votes to be able to give either the ANC or the DA a majority.

"Now that she has broken her promise to remain independent, and failed at the same time to put Mfeketo back in power, De Lille has not only lost power but credibility as well," Leon said.

Sapa