Why De Lille did not shoot Cape Town's sheriff

An intense public campaign in support of JP ''The Sheriff'' Smith was not the reason the City of Cape Town mayor‚ Patricia De Lille‚ decided to keep the long-serving councillor in his post.

At a media conference on Monday‚ when she announced her mayoral committee reshuffle‚ she also revealed that Smith would continue heading the safety portfolio.

Leading up to Monday’s announcement DA insiders had said De Lille was considering shafting him.

An intense public campaign followed‚ leading to the creation of the Save JP Smith Facebook group where the public showed their support for the councillor who some refer to as “The Sheriff”.

Asked about the internal spat between himself and De Lille Smith said he "loathed" internal politics and politicking.

“It's the part of being a councillor that I really hate and I'm super glad that we can now get on with the only part of the job that I like‚ which is the service delivery and getting solutions‚ and engaging with the staff and going to see them on sight and understanding what the problems are and trouble shooting. This is the stuff I live for‚” he said.

He said he "can't and shouldn't" comment on his relationship with De Lille.

He said he was “really eager to get going” and that he was happy to support the transformation the City was making.

He said at the moment it was difficult to understand the “scope” of the new mayco member's powers‚ but that it would be evident.

“I'm happy that we've now settled the matter‚ that we can proceed with the work‚” he said.

“I was not influenced by faceless‚ nameless‚ useless people‚ I was influenced by the capability of alderman Smith‚” De Lille added.

She said it was unfortunate that those people condemned the city’s new Organisational Development and Transformation Plan‚ which gave rise to the reshuffle‚ before it was presented.

“It [the campaign] did not impact at all in this process‚ we are steaming ahead and sometimes you find that people who are anti-transformation come in all shapes and sizes. They come nameless‚ they come faceless but they really don’t like transformation‚” she said.

However‚ DA insiders told The Times that De Lille was “engaged” by a number of party leaders not to drop Smith because of the good work he had done‚ transforming the Metro Police.

As part of the new structure‚ De Lille announced that the city would be divided into four geographical areas which will be overseen be new “mini mayors” who are part of her mayoral committee.

Suzette Little will be in charge of the North area‚ Anda Ntsondo will be deployed to the East area‚ Eddie Andrews will be taking the South area while Siya Mamkeli will be responsible for the Central area.

Former Human Settlement mayco member‚ Benedicta Van Minnen‚ appears to be the biggest loser in the reshuffle. She has been shafted as the chairperson of the disciplinary committee to being the assistant to speaker Dirk Smit.

Deputy mayor Ian Neilson will no longer head up the finance portfolio because the mayor wanted him to share more of her responsibilities.

“Honestly speaking‚ the past five years I have driven myself to be always burnt out‚ it’s a very demanding job. Seven days a week‚ I work 16 hours a day. I can’t even play golf anymore‚” said De Lille.

JP Smith has been instrumental in several pioneering‚ and controversial‚ initiatives and bylaws in Cape Town.

These include:

• Posting officers outside every known drug dealer's house
• Impounding cellphones when drivers are caught using the devices;
• Investing more than R14-million to fit CCTV cameras in the city and enforcement vehicles with automatic number plate recognition;
• Allowed businesses to pay a law enforcement officer's salary and benefits in return for choosing where they are stationed;
• Community members whose information leads to arrests receive a code via SMS which is used at an ATM to receive a reward of up to R1‚000;
• Technology used on gang infested areas to pinpoint the location of gunshots in real time and - Dog owners being fined when their animals bark for more than six minutes for every hour.

TMG Digital/The Times