Cape Town - The DA on Thursday welcomed the move of three ANC members to their party, including a ward councillor and relatives of two Struggle stalwarts.
DA Western Cape leader Patricia de Lille, along with members of the DA’s metro executive committee, announced that councillor Mzwakhe Nqavashe, who was last year named the city’s best ward councillor, would be joining the party as an aspirant candidate for the upcoming local government elections.
Neo Tshengu, a bishop and the founder of the Small Medium Business Council, was also announced to have joined the party, with De Lille saying he would play a vital role as an activist in the Lagunya and Khayelitsha constituencies. Tshengu is the nephew of the late Albertina Sisulu.
The party also formally welcomed Lindela Tshwete, son of ANC veteran Steve Tshwete, who joined the DA in January. Tshwete confirmed he was also an aspirant DA candidate for the August elections.
The ANC said it was not surprised by Nqavashe’s decision, attributing his move to growing concern over his role as a councillor. “The ANC is not surprised by the defection of councillor Nqavashe to the Democratic Alliance because, for a while now, we have expressed a concern, especially when the ‘DA’s pseudo-councillor rating tool’ put Nqavashe at the top of their list of best performing councillors, showering him with awards, over and against a pool of well performing ANC councillors and in contrast with our view,” said ANC provincial secretary Faiez Jacobs.
“The DA is welcome to take some of our remnants and see how far they get with councillors that pass its sell-by-date. Our communities deserve better.
“It is quite clear that this move is driven by self-preservation because he has been increasingly becoming unpopular and discredited by the community of Barcelona.”
The move of the ANC members comes in the wake of calls for President Jacob Zuma to step down following the Constitutional Court’s judgment he had failed to uphold the constitution when he did not act on the recommendations of the public protector’s report on Nkandla.
However, Nqavashe said the current political climate had not influenced his move to the DA.
“I have been thinking about this for many weeks and I don’t want to be seen as speaking badly about the party I was part of. When you look at the political atmosphere now, you can see the dark cloud that is hanging over the ANC. Not even just at a national level. You can see it in the branches and across the provinces and municipalities,” he said.
Nqavashe said the DA’s service delivery record was the main factor in his decision to join the party. “Delivering services is what is important to me. The DA is the party that delivers services to everybody and is taking care of the poor. That is what interested me in joining the party.”
Tshwete said his decision to move to the DA had been a long time coming.
“In 2014 before the elections, Ronnie Kasrils told people to rather spoil their vote than vote for the ANC. Kasrils was my mentor and my friend, so I could see that the ANC was no longer what my father had fought for. The stalwarts of the ANC could see the changes and this was before what is happening now.”
Mayco member for safety and security JP Smith said Mzwakhe’s move was a huge gain for the DA. “There is good reason he was named as councillor of the year.
“Community service comes first for him. This is a man who can transcend politics. Today Christmas came early for us.”
Cape Argus