Former Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille has become the latest senior political figure to lift the lid on Resolve Communications’ efforts to secure access to government, revealing that Tony Leon lobbied the City of Cape Town on behalf of Uber.
This while the public relations firm also played a role in the city’s communications campaign during the height of its drought crisis.
De Lille’s account, backed by Brett Herron, her transport mayco member at the time, showed Resolve was opening doors for its clients in DA-run governments as far back as a decade ago.
Their disclosures follow similar claims by former DA leader and axed agriculture minister John Steenhuisen, former environment minister Dion George and ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont.
All three have described how Resolve sought meetings or influence on behalf of its private-sector clients.
Steenhuisen set the ball rolling when he detailed the allegations in an interview on Sunday, accusing the firm of arranging meetings between DA ministers and its clients – most explosively Elon Musk’s Starlink, which he said met communications minister Solly Malatsi while seeking a licence to operate in SA.
Starlink is a satellite internet service which beams broadband from thousands of low-orbit satellites and is used in more than 100 countries.
It is not licensed to operate in SA because local law requires telecoms operators to be at least 30% owned by historically disadvantaged South Africans, a requirement Starlink has refused to meet.
The General Industries Workers Union of SA, ActionSA, the ANC and parliament’s communications portfolio committee also demanded that the firm’s dealings with government be investigated.
Speaking to IOL on Friday, De Lille said Resolve Communications had been brought into the City of Cape Town as a subcontractor during its internationally watched water crisis between 2015 and 2018.
Poor rainy seasons drained Cape Town’s dams and pushed the city towards the day the taps would be switched off and residents would queue for rationed water — the so-called “Day Zero”.
In a desperate attempt to avoid it, the city ran an intensive campaign urging residents to drastically cut their use, at one stage limiting them to 50 litres per person a day.
De Lille said the city appointed an external communications agency to assist with the crisis, which then subcontracted Resolve Communications.
“Priya Reddy, who works in communications, is the one who then brought Resolve in as a subcontractor at the time,” De Lille said.
“That was when we had the drought crisis, so we instructed Priya to hire an external communications team.”
Reddy was the city’s head of communications at the time.
“So we had a company we used, that we appointed as the main contractor and then Priya also appointed Resolve as a subcontractor of that company,” De Lille said.
Responding to questions from IOL, Reddy said Resolve had not been contracted directly by the city.
“The city did not contract Resolve,” she said.
“They were brought on by our communications agency at the time because they were crisis communications specialists, and this was a crisis getting global coverage.
“I have no relationship with Tony Leon.”
De Lille also said Leon allegedly approached the Mother City on behalf of Uber after the e-hailing company entered the SA market.
She said existing transport legislation had not anticipated e-hailing services, creating regulatory uncertainty around permits and operating licences.
“You know, at the time when Uber came out, there was nothing in our legislation or regulations that covered them, for them to put meters in their taxis and get permits and all of that,” she said.
Rather than dealing with the matter herself, De Lille said she referred Leon to the city’s transport portfolio.
“I didn’t deal with it myself. I just said to them: ‘I refer you to the transport MMC.’
“But that is all that I can remember for now.”
Herron, now secretary-general of De Lille’s GOOD party, confirmed that he met Leon at Resolve Communications’ request.
“Yes, when I was the mayco member responsible for transport I met with Tony Leon at his request,” Herron said.
“He was representing Uber who were trying to arrange operating licences in a regulatory environment that didn’t provide for the Uber model of operating.”
Herron said Leon and Resolve also introduced him to Uber executives from SA and the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.
“I was also introduced by Leon and Resolve Communications to Uber management in South Africa and the EMEA region.”
While nothing improper was requested, Herron said there was considerable pressure to resolve Uber’s licensing difficulties quickly.
“I was not asked to do anything irregular or improper but I was placed under a lot of pressure to find a rapid solution to the operating licence issue.
“At the time we were supportive of the new technology that birthed e-hailing and encouraged by the public’s appetite for using e-hailing for their transport needs.
“So we were working on a solution, within a legal framework that never envisaged e-hailing, in any event.”
De Lille also recalled attending a DA fundraising event allegedly hosted by Leon before the 2016 local government elections.
“What I do know is that Tony Leon once hosted a fundraiser for the party and they invited Helen and I as the premier,” she said, referring to former Western Cape premier Helen Zille.
She said the event took place while Paul Boughey, who had previously served as her chief of staff before becoming the DA’s chief executive, was running the party.
“Tony Leon [allegedly] did a fundraiser for the DA.
“It was just before, I think, the 2016 election.
“They hosted it at Tony’s house, and Helen and I were invited to come and meet these people.
“They raised a substantial amount of money that night.”
The controversy first erupted when Steenhuisen alleged in a News24 interview on Sunday that Resolve Communications used its close relationship with senior DA leaders to arrange meetings between Government of National Unity ministers and private-sector clients, including Musk’s Starlink.
“I was quite shocked when I found out Resolve was doing this,” Steenhuisen said.
He also accused the firm of orchestrating a campaign against him over government’s handling of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.
George later alleged that Resolve repeatedly sought meetings between him and waste management company Redisa while the company was involved in litigation with his department.
George said he refused every request.
“I refused because there was active litigation between the department and the company,” he said.
According to George, Resolve renewed the request after his department withdrew draft waste management regulations, with Leon personally asking again.
George said he again refused.
He later noticed negative commentary directed at him and believed Resolve was responsible, though he acknowledged he had no evidence.
George resigned from the DA earlier this year following a public fallout with Steenhuisen.
Beaumont said the conduct now under scrutiny mirrored allegations he documented in his 2020 book The Accidental Mayor.
Beaumont alleged that Leon sought a meeting with then-Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba in April 2019 before pitching ShotSpotter, a gun-detection technology company represented by Resolve Communications, for a proposed R300 million project.
The same ShotSpotter technology is used by the City of Cape Town’s safety and security directorate.
“He facilitated a meeting with Herman under false pretences,” Beaumont said.
“It was clear he wanted us to meet with his clients.”
According to Beaumont, Mashaba immediately rejected the proposal, insisting procurement had to follow lawful tender processes.
Months later, he said, Leon recommended the DA withdraw from Johannesburg’s coalition government, prompting Mashaba to accuse him of attempting to profit from his political influence.
“When he wants to profit from his proximity to a DA-led government, he is a fan of our government.
“When he gets told to go to hell, he recommends that the party collapse these arrangements,” Mashaba said at the time.
Mashaba also complained to the then-DA leader, Mmusi Maimane.
“I have never been approached by the EFF nor any other coalition partner in respect of a tender. After the engagement with Mr Leon, I cannot say the same of my own party.”
Leon denied the allegations, saying procurement decisions were solely the responsibility of the City.
