Senior leaders in the DA are expected to brief the media on the party's next steps regarding the future of embattled Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille.
James Selfe, chairperson of the DA's federal executive, deputy chairpersons of the federal executive Natasha Mazzone and Thomas Walters, and national spokesperson Refiloe Nt'sekhe are expected to brief the media on Tuesday morning.
This comes after it emerged on Monday that senior DA members had shared a fake Auditor General report about De Lille on social media, in which claims were made against her.
News24 confirmed that the document, shared by at least two DA members of Parliament on social media, was a forgery.
The DA members include deputy chief whip Mike Waters, who is also a deputy federal chairperson of the party, and National Council of Provinces MP Bronwynn Engelbrecht.
Mazzone later said the purported document was in no way used by the party in its disciplinary processes against De Lille.
"The DA would like to clarify that the 'De Lille Exposed' post, which has been shared on social media, is not official content and has never been shared by our official DA platforms," Mazzone said in a statement on Monday.
"More importantly, this fake letter has never been used as the basis for any disciplinary matter between Patricia de Lille and the party.
"It is unfortunate that a fake news post which makes use of the Auditor General's signature has been shared as authentic content by many who have fallen prey to fake news on social media platforms."
De Lille was charged with misconduct by the party earlier this year, following various claims.
The embattled mayor survived a motion of no confidence in her as mayor in February, but in an internal motion of no confidence against her in April, the party voted to recall her as mayor.
The party's deputy caucus leader JP Smith said at the time the motion was discussed at length and was "a very calm and respectful debate".
"The outcome of that vote is that the DA caucus supports the motion of no confidence, and is hereby requesting the DA's federal executive to remove the mayor as the leader of the caucus and mayor of the City of Cape Town," he said at the time. — News24Wire