STATEMENT BY THE CITY'S EXECUTIVE MAYOR, PATRICIA DE LILLE, ON THE DEFECTION OF GRANT PASCOE

I have just learned that the Mayoral Committee Member for Tourism, Events and Marketing (TEAM), Councillor Grant Pascoe, has changed his political affiliation from the Democratic Alliance (DA) to the African National Congress (ANC). As he has chosen to take this action before doing me the courtesy of informing me, I can only assume that he has chosen to find a new political home due to his inability to live up to the standards required of DA public representatives.

His performance has included the following:

1. He frequently did not attend meetings of the City's political and administrative leadership

2. For those meetings he did attend, his preparation was poor to non-existent, resulting in his inability to contribute in any meaningful way

3. His political management of the TEAM directorate was exceptionally poor

4. He had no concept of the City's strategic framework or policy direction

5. He had no understanding or interest in City processes, such as supply chain or budget procedures

6. He had no meaningful contributions to make about his constituency in Mitchells Plain

The May 2014 elections will result in the strong possibility that several Mayoral Committee Members would need to be replaced upon moving to either the national or provincial parliaments. This would have meant an opportunity for a Mayoral Committee reshuffle, at which time it was my intention to dismiss Cllr. Pascoe.

His appraisals in the Mayoral dashboard system and the numerous queries against his performance as the oversight authority over TEAM suggest to me that he was aware that action was about to be taken against his sub-par performance and that he has acted accordingly.

It is of interest to me that Cllr. Pascoe has chosen to join the ANC. In response to the ANC's position on Employment Equity, Mr. Pascoe released a statement on 24 February, 2011 in which he said:

‘The bottom line is this: there is no such thing as too many coloureds (or whites, or Indians, or blacks)! There are only South Africans. The ANC must stop its obsession with race, and start focusing on creating opportunities - especially for the poor - so that all our people are able to improve their lives.'

In light of the above, it is difficult to see anything beyond naked opportunism in such a once strident critic of the ANC so quickly joining them. I certainly hope that any future constituents of Cllr. Pascoe's remember his points of principle, or lack thereof.

Cllr. Pascoe will be formally informed that he is immediately dismissed from the Mayoral Committee. All other party procedures will be handled by the relevant DA structures.

Statement issued by Cape Town Executive Mayor, April 7 2014

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter