Cape Town - Cape Town’s most infamous poo flinger, Loyiso Nkohla, has dumped the ANC and publicly endorsed his former political rivals, the DA.
Nkohla has endorsed the DA, but will not be able to join as a member because of ongoing legal proceedings against him.
Nkohla, who with Andile Lili, the co-leaders of the Ses’khona People’s Rights Movement, led violent protests in 2013 against the distribution of portable toilets to informal settlements, switched political homes from the ANC to the DA on Thursday, taking with him about 500 of his supporters.
Nkohla said the supporters who accompanied him to the announcement in Khayelitsha on Thursday represented only community leaders, not the entire support base. The move was made in the best interests of the communities, Nkohla said.
“We are not angry, we are not aggrieved or disgruntled; we’ve made a conscious decision to stand with the DA,” he told a hall packed full of new DA recruits.
He said the ANC had failed, lied to and fooled the poor.
Nkohla also said he had seen the DA’s plans for the city to ensure there was budget to improve service delivery to the poor.
The DA’s equal opportunity policies for all and its undertaking to deliver on demands for services were among the reasons behind pledging his support to the party.
“This is not a defection, it’s an exodus,” he said, adding that Ses’khona would hold the DA-led provincial government and city accountable.
Nkohla also took the opportunity to apologise to citizens of the Cape for the “unintended harm” caused during the movement’s protest actions.
Welcoming Nkohla and his supporters to the DA’s ranks, Western Cape leader Patricia De Lille said the party was able to convince Ses’khona to join its ranks by giving Nkohla a detailed breakdown of the more than R700 million budget the city would spend on service delivery.
De Lille said Nkohla could not become a DA member until the legal proceedings against him had been resolved.
The DA leaders praised Nkohla for continuing to fight for better services for the people. She was also adamant nothing had been offered to Nkohla to sweeten the deal.
“His heart is for the people, he is a real community leader. He’s not coming to the DA because of conditions or promises.”
De Lille also said any DA members who disagreed with Nkohla joining the party could follow internal procedures to voice their grievances.
De Lille then took aim at the ANC.
“The DA is the party of future and the ANC is a party of the past.
“The ANC of Nelson Mandela is not the same ANC of today. It’s about creating jobs only for their pals. It is about stealing the money that must go towards wards. A vote for the ANC is a vote for suffering. We have been suffering for too long. We must now unite and build this Cape Town together.”
Nkohla’s support for the DA didn’t go down well with Lili, however.
He called a press conference in the city centre just hours later.
Wearing an ANC T-shirt, Lili said Ses’khona would never endorse the DA and that Nkohla was “fraternising with the enemy”.
Lili said the leadership of Ses’khona would have to meet to discuss whether the members who backed Nkohla and the DA would be expelled from the organisation.
“I believe there will be consequences when it comes to their membership of Ses’khona.”
Cape Argus