Three DA members have renounced their membership and pledged allegiance to the ANC in the Western Cape, amid claims of racial prejudice from within the party. Former DA Councillor Cyril Mack, his son Grant and Danny Bolton, all residents of Atlantis, claim the party’s racist undertones have become unbearable in the lead up to the 2016 local government elections.

“You won’t know about the false promises. I am coming from there. I served on a lot of those structures and I am telling you that it is difficult. We are not going to allow that people are taken from the streets in Durbanville and put into council when we as activist never get an opportunity,” Cyril told journalists at the ANC’s offices in the CBD.

The move comes on the back of a recent Facebook comment shared by DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard, which South Africa is described as being better under the apartheid regime president PW Botha. Mack told reporters that the debacle was the deciding factor.

The three arrived at the press briefing donning their blue DA t-shirts, after professing their disapproval and concerns for the party’s alleged disregard for the development of the coloured community. The three then removed their t-shirts and chanted ‘Amandla’ as they replaced the t-shirts with ANC branded t-shirts instead.
Western Cape ANC leader, Marius Fransman believes the party will recapture the support from the broader coloured people of Cape Town and overthrow the current party in power.

“In 1994 the total majority of coloured people voted DA because of the fear factor. We are calling on everyone else within the party to come out and speak to us about their concerns. We have former DA councillor, Grant Pascoe with us as well. We’ve asked him to engage with other people that have tried to speak out against the DA. If people are not comfortable with the ANC yet, they can speak with Grant,” Fransman said.

Meanwhile, the DA’s Western Cape deputy leader Bonginkosi Madikizela was quoted in media reports as saying that Mack was “not doing very well” and had received a vote of no confidence from ward members. However, Madikizela said since South Africa was a constitutional democracy, and people were free to join whatever party they wished to. VOC (Ra’eesah Isaacs)