Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille is serving notice until the end of October, when she'll vacate the mayor's office. On Sunday, DA national leader Mmusi Maimane and De Lille announced what effectively is a political solution to some eight months of damaging internecine party battles that spilt from the Cape Town DA structures to the Western Cape and into national party terrain. At their joint media briefing Maimane and De Lille were at pains to be all smiles.

See how the news broke on Sunday morning here: Patricia de Lille to resign as Cape Town mayor in a deal with Maimane

DA national leader Mmusi Maimane on Sunday announced the "mutual agreement" he and Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille have struck: "(She) has agreed to resign the office of the mayor, effective 31 October 2018".

The announcement of De Lille's resignation came a day before the scheduled start of the disciplinary proceedings against her in open hearing. And there's been some spin that the DA would have been embarrassed by those proceedings. But those disciplinary...