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De Lille on NPA's decision not to prosecute: 'I knew all along I was innocent'

Good party leader Patricia de Lille.
Good party leader Patricia de Lille.
Image: ESA ALEXANDER/SUNDAY TIMES

"I knew all along I was innocent." This is what Good party leader Patricia de Lille said after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) announced it will not prosecute her.

The NPA on Wednesday said it had declined to prosecute the former mayor of Cape Town after the DA claimed she attempted to solicit a bribe from a businessman and laid another complaint related to renovations done at her home.

"There is no reasonable prospect that the state would succeed in proving this in the light of the evidence contradicting the complaint‚ the probabilities and the absence of corroboration."

In an interview on Radio 702‚ De Lille said the DA had gone to a "very great extent to smear my name".

Here are six quotes from the interview:

House renovation

De Lille said the money for the renovations done at her house came out of her own pocket.

"I did renovate my house‚ but I was able to show them my banking accounts that I paid for it myself."

'Blue liars' exposed

She said the DA's lies are being exposed‚ referring to the party as "blue liars".

"The blue liars are being exposed again. They have gone to a very great extent to smear my name. [The DA's federal executive chairperson] James Selfe‚ [Cape Town's MMC for safety and security] JP Smith and [the DA's shadow ministers for justice and correctional services ] Glynnis Breytenbach - those were the people behind these false charges."

No hesitations

She said she would sue the people who continue to smear her name.

"I will not hesitate this time around‚ after having studied the NPA's decision‚ to sue all of those people that have continued to smear my name."

Getting axed

De Lille said the DA hid the real reasons why they were trying to remove her from office.

"They wanted me out because I have implemented what is in the DA's manifesto and that is to begin to integrate the City of Cape Town‚ to deal with the apartheid spatial planning ... and the conservatives in charge now don't want to see the changes in the city."

Dig a grave

She said Selfe dug a grave for himself.

"Remember‚ what goes around comes around. You dig a grave for someone else and you fall in it yourself. James Selfe is the first casualty of that."

Working with any political party

She said she is prepared to work with any political party and persons in a bid to bring about transformation.

"Some people in the DA see transformation as a swear word‚ but because of the history of our country‚ we must transform.

"If people are prepared to work together with me for transformation purposes‚ there is 29‚000 pieces of land and we will be working with cities nationally to release these for human settlement."

- TMG Digital

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