DA predicts ANC to unravel further in WC after defection of its former provincial secretary

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is predicting the further unravelling of the African National Congress (ANC) in the Western Cape after the former provincial secretary, Neville Delport, defected to the party on Wednesday.

Delport has accused the ANC of ignoring the will of those who elected the ANC's provincial leadership in 2023 by disbanding the provincial leadership last week and replacing them with former provincial leaders.

But the ANC said it was unmoved by his defection and said his exit affirmed that it had taken the correct decision to reconfigure the provincial executive as part of its renewal process.

Following last week’s ousting of the ANC's Western Cape executive, the DA's Helen Zille is predicting that Delport’s defection signals the ongoing realignment of South African politics.

"As the process of the disintegration of the ANC continues, so the DA will continue to draw those in the ANC who want to support our vision of the future."

Delport, whom Zille said had not been wooed but rather who approached the DA, said the ANC has been ignoring its coloured support base. 

"A conference that we won the ticket of Rural for Change and coloured leaders, we were actually thrown out, replaced by leaders that lost a conference. Those leaders don’t represent the will of our coloured communities."

Commenting on his departure, the ANC said that Delport was a divisive personality and its renewal process was not about removing individuals, rather to cleanse the movement of opportunism, self-interest and political convenience.

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