The terms of the agreement that will see Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille leave office – at the end of this week, Daily Maverick is reliably informed – will be officially announced later on Sunday.

Portia Adams, DA national leader Mmusi Maimane’s spokesperson, said she “could not confirm or deny anything”, referring to the media briefing on the matter later in the day.

The agreement on De Lille’s departure comes after over seven months of DA internecine battles in the City of Cape Town – including at least two motions of no confidences that went nowhere, one won by De Lille at the start of the year and the other last month withdrawn. The political tensions from the city have also spilled to the Western Cape party structures, and nationally. The DA at its national congress earlier this year introduced what’s known as “the De Lille clause” in its party constitution: that elected public representatives could be withdrawn from office on loss of confidence.

But the timing of this agreement between Maimane and De Lille is curious: De Lille has won in court against the DA over how it has treated her with regards to disciplinary and other processes. The disciplinary hearing was meant to get underway, in an open hearing, as De Lille had wanted, arguing throughout she wanted to clear her name in public. DM