Patricia de Lille

Patricia de Lille (born 17 February 1951) is a South African politician and Mayor of Cape Town. She was the founder and the leader of the Independent Democrats, a South African political party which she formed in 2003 during a floor-crossing window. On 15 August 2010, the ID merged with the Democratic Alliance, South Africa's official opposition, and de Lille took on dual party membership until her party was fully dissolved in May 2014.

On 14 March 2011, De Lille beat Grant Pascoe, Shehaam Sims and incumbent Dan Plato to become the DA's mayoral candidate in Cape Town, ahead of the 2011 local government elections. She was declared the mayor-elect by the IEC on 20 May 2011.

De Lille was voted 22nd in the Top 100 Great South Africans, and is noted for her role in investigations into the country's controversial Arms Deal.

Background

De Lille was born in 1951 in Beaufort West, and attended Bastiaanse Hoërskool. In 1974 she became a laboratory technician at a factory. She remained involved with the same company until 1990. During this time, she became involved in the South African Chemical Workers Union, starting off as a shop steward and then becoming regional secretary, before being elected to National Executive Member in 1983. In 1988 she was elected as National Vice-President of The National Council of Trade Unions (NACTU), the highest position for a woman in the trade union movement at that time.

Lille

Lille (French pronunciation: [lil]; Dutch: Rijsel [ˈrɛi̯səl]) is a city in the north of France. It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole. Lille is situated in French Flanders, on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium. It is the capital of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie region and the prefecture of the Nord department.

The city of Lille, to which the previously independent town of Lomme was annexed on 27 February 2000, had a population of 226,827 as recorded by the 2009 census. However, Lille Métropole, which also includes Roubaix, Tourcoing and numerous suburban communities, had a population of 1,091,438. The Eurometropolis Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai, which also includes the Belgian cities of Kortrijk, Tournai and Mouscron, had 2,155,161 residents in 2008. It is the fifth-largest urban area in France after Paris, Lyon, Marseille, and Toulouse.

History

Origin of the city

Archeological digs seem to show the area as inhabited by as early as 2000 BC, most notably in the modern-day quartiers of Fives, Wazemmes, and Old Lille. The original inhabitants of this region were the Gauls, such as the Menapians, the Morins, the Atrebates, and the Nervians, who were followed by Germanic peoples: the Saxons, the Frisians and the Franks.

Cape Town

Cape Town (Afrikaans: Kaapstad [ˈkɑːpstɐt]; Xhosa: Ikapa) is a city in South Africa. It ranks third among the most populous urban areas in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Durban, and has roughly the same population as the Durban Metropolitan Area. It is also the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. It is the southernmost city on the African continent.

As the seat of the National Parliament it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality. The city is famous for its harbour, for its natural setting in the Cape Floristic Region, as well as for such well-known landmarks as Table Mountain and Cape Point. As of 2014, it is the 10th most populous city in Africa and home to 64% of the Western Cape's population. It is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, reflecting its role as a major destination for immigrants and expatriates to South Africa. The city was named the World Design Capital for 2014 by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design. In 2014, Cape Town was named the best place in the world to visit by both The New York Times and The Telegraph.

Patricia

Patricia /pəˈtrɪʃə/ is a common female given name of Latin origin. Derived from the Latin word patrician, meaning "noble", the masculine form of the name is Patrick. The name Patricia was the second most common female name in the United States according to the 1990 US Census.

It is commonly shortened to 'Pat', 'Pati/Paty', 'Patsy', Patti/Pattie', 'Trish' or 'Trisha/Tricia'. These diminutives are sometimes used as names in their own right. Another well-known variant of this is 'Patrice'.

According to the US Social Security Administration records, the use of the name for newborns peaked at #3 from 1937 to 1943 in the USA, after which it dropped in popularity, reaching a low of #442 in 2007. From 1928 to 1967, the name was ranked among the top #11 female names.

In Portuguese and Spanish-speaking countries, the name Patricia is common as well, pronounced [paˈtrisja], while in Italy Patrizia is the form, pronounced [paˈtriːtsja]. In Polish, the variant is Patrycja.

People