Durban - Former DA KZN leader Zwakele Mncwango has rubbished allegations made by his former party that he has joined ActionSA after his resignation from the party last week.
However, Mncwango admitted that he had had preliminary talks with ActionSA, and the party yesterday said that it would pursue Mncwango to be one of its leaders in the province.
Mncwango first resigned as a DA member of the provincial legislature (MPL) last week on account of no longer being able to defend some of the party’s policy positions in public but remained as a party member.
But he soon after resigned as a member of the DA as he said he received a letter from the national leadership that reinforced his belief that the party no longer tolerated differing views or criticism.
“I have not joined ActionSA, they are just speculating (referring to a statement from the DA). I have engaged with Mashaba (ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba) on the issue and have been engaging with him since ActionSA was formed. He called me after the DA issued a statement about my resignation,” said Mncwango, adding that he would be meeting Mashaba face-to-face on the issue soon.
In a statement, the DA in KwaZulu-Natal said it had received a letter from Mncwango resigning his membership of the party.
While the party had wished him well earlier last week after he resigned as an MPL, in its Friday statement the party accused him of duplicity.
“We now understand that he will take up the position of ActionSA chairperson in KZN before the end of October, which was his plan since he announced his first resignation earlier this week,” said the DA statement.
The DA said it believed that Mncwango had been planning his departure to ActionSA for the past month.
“Therefore, we feel he needs to come clean with the public and his new party as to why he saw it fit to enjoy the perks of his office in the legislature, at the pleasure of the DA, while planning his departure to his new political party.
“These perks included an overseas trip in the last month to Norway and Uganda which cost taxpayers roughly R150 000. Surely if he had such misgivings about the DA, he should have resigned from the party before he enjoyed this costly trip,” it said.
Mncwango said the statement was odd and he did not believe that it was written by the provincial leaders, whom he had engaged with on the reasons why he was leaving.
“I had resigned from the legislature and had wanted to engage the party about the concerns that I had, but instead I received a letter from Helen Zille saying she was concerned about some of the public utterances I had made and ordered me to desist.
“That just reinforced the view that this was no longer a party that was willing to engage on the matter I had raised but a party where some people can speak and others cannot. There didn’t seem to be any point in remaining as a member, so I resigned,” he said.
Mncwango also rubbished the allegation that he had benefited illegitimately from the overseas trip.
“The trips are organised by the legislature well in advance, the money came from the legislature. If there were such concerns and they were legitimate, they should have complained about this when I resigned from the legislature.”
Michael Beaumont, national chairperson of ActionSA, said the party would be delighted to have Mncwango on board.