Can we trust City Council speaker Felicity Purchase?

Felicity Purchase is a long-serving DA councillor in the City of Cape Town and currently holds the office of Speaker of the Council. Until recently she was the ward councillor for Ward 69 which covers Fish Hoek, Noordhoek, Kommetjie, Site 5, Ocean View and surrounding suburbs.

According to Facebook she lives in Glencairn. From what I know Felicity is a long time Deep South resident.

However, this year a motion of no confidence was brought against Purchase in the City Council. The motion focused on concerns about impartiality, oversight, and the separation of roles, and claimed that disciplinary processes are unevenly applied.

Councillors in the City Council describe Felicity’s approach as heavy-handed, particularly during virtual sittings where she can mute participants and end discussions abruptly. They argue that procedural control is being used not for administrative efficiency, but to restrict scrutiny of executive decisions.

This year Grant Claasen, Chief Whip of the African Restoration Alliance (ARA), questioned why his party was permitted to speak on only two items despite a full agenda. Jonathan Cupido, Chief Whip of the GOOD Party, supported the complaint, stating that ARA receives only a few minutes of speaking time in an entire meeting while GOOD receives about eleven minutes, including closed-session deliberations. He added that DA leadership has repeatedly postponed workshops aimed at updating council rules, leaving the current limitations in place.

Not only was the motion of no confidence raised against Purchase in August of this year, but on December 4th Felicity Purchase prevented Councillor Miller from speaking on the proposed Masi Local Spatial Development Framework (LSDF). Purchase cited alleged misuse of the council’s IM chatbox as justification, imposing penalties that blocked Miller from raising community concerns about the social, demographic, and economic impact.

The result is a narrowing of the democratic space in Cape Town’s governance. Limited speaking time, constrained oversight, and accelerated decision-making have raised questions about transparency. Mayor Hill-Lewis benefits from a compliant chamber, they argue, because it reduces the risk of dissent or extended interrogation of policy choices.

In Thomas Sowell’s book The Vision of the Anointed he describes a leadership style in which politicians present themselves as uniquely capable of solving society’s problems while dismissing contrary evidence and limiting debate. The motion of no confidence in Felicity Purchase makes me wonder whether she has the vision of the anointed. Does she claim that contrary evidence is “misinformation,” or that those with different ideas are political while she is not? Sowell warns us against such leadership.