Johannesburg - The Democratic Alliance (DA) in KwaZulu-Natal says it does not recognise the 73 members who ‘allegedly’ defected to the ANC in the province this weekend.
This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa, while in the province, welcomed the former DA members over to the ANC.
News reports on the weekend suggested that Ramaphosa welcomed at least 100 former members of the DA to the ruling party in Chatsworth, Durban.
Ramaphosa gave them assurances, saying the party would overcome the challenges of unemployment in the country.
"We face right now a huge challenge of unemployment. But it is a challenge we believe the ANC will be able to address. Just in the past year and a half, we’ve been able to regain some of the jobs that we lost during COVID-19. We lost 2 million jobs during COVID-19, and 1.5 million of those jobs have been regained. We continue to create more and more jobs," Ramaphosa said.
Chatsworth Ward 73 is headed for a by-election following the resignation of former DA councillor Ronnie Pillay, who has since joined the ANC.
During his address, Ramaphosa used the opportunity to campaign for the party ahead of next year’s general elections.
However, in a statement on Sunday, the DA in KwaZulu-Natal said it did not recognise the "hundreds of former DA members" that were welcomed by the President in Chatsworth.
Francois Rodgers, MPL and DA KZN leader, said the only member the party recognised was former DA councillor Ronnie Pillay, who had chosen the ANC as his ‘retirement home’.
"This is clearly a publicity stunt by the Taliban faction of the ANC to impress Ramaphosa and divert attention from the party’s continuous failure on service delivery and the collapse in the municipality," Rodgers said.
He added that the DA had dispatched its own candidate, 27-year-old Daniel Mea, who is always on the ground every day fighting for residents to get the services that they deserved.
"The party’s food parcel campaign has clearly run its course, and out of desperation, the ANC is opting to mislead residents. Evident from recent by-elections, more communities are rallying behind the DA and voting for a party that puts their interests first," he said.
Rodgers added that residents of Ward 73, eThekwini, will have an opportunity on May 24, 2023, to vote for a party that gets things done and blocks a possible ANC-EFF “Doomsday” coalition.
The Star