Embattled Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille is worried her own party might plot with the ANC to snatch the mayoral chain from her next week.

As a result she hauled the DA‚ the council speaker and the city before the High Court in Cape Town this week to overturn the party’s decision to suspend her from its activities. The scene is now set for lengthy litigation.

The suspension includes all DA caucus activities in the city. Initially‚ De Lille wanted to attend the DA’s caucus on Wednesday‚ which voted against her by 84 to 59.

She detailed her fears in a 266-page court file and said: “This application is not brought in my official capacity but in my capacity as [a] member of the [DA] and “as such I have to pay for this litigation out of my own pocket”. And it seems‚ from the court papers‚ she has been communicating with DA through lawyers for some time.

“At the risk of stating the obvious‚ I have personally paid for legal advice to the extent that this was necessary in the course of my interactions with [the DA]‚” De Lille’s affidavit said.

“The decision is contrary to the party’s constitution and patently unlawful to the extent that it excludes me from attending DA caucus meetings on governance issues and it accordingly falls to be set aside.

“This part of the application is urgent because I am now faced with a motion of no confidence‚ brought by members of the ANC‚ which is on the city council’s agenda for Wednesday‚ 31 January 2018. The DA caucus meeting to discuss this motion is to take place on Wednesday 24 January 2018.”

De Lille said she found out about the meeting to discuss her fate only on Tuesday morning‚ hence the urgent application.

“I must be able to attend the DA caucus meeting in order to persuade DA councillors not to abstain from voting and not to support the ANC’s motion‚” she said in her affidavit.

The parties reached an agreement‚ which was made an order of the court on Tuesday‚ to allow De Lille to attend the caucus meeting. However‚ the question of who should bear the legal costs for the application is yet to be determined.

But there seems to be no end in the litigation. De Lille is seeking to have the decision taken by the DA’s federal executive to accept a document known as the Steenhuisen Report‚ compiled by a subcommittee probing “issues causing tension in the City of Cape Town caucus” as well as “certain parts of the report itself”. The matter could be heard around May.

“I must emphasise at the outset that certain issues arising from the Steenhuisen Report have been referred to the party’s federal legal commission for investigation and disciplinary proceedings against me‚” De Lille said in her affidavit.

“Those proceedings are apparently pending and I will challenge the relevant parts of the Steenhuisen Report in those proceedings.”

Western Cape DA leader Bonginkosi Madikizela said the party's federal executive was likely to convene a special meeting to discuss the caucus vote against De Lille.