Durban - Iconic French footballer Eric Cantona once remarked that “You can change your wife, your politics, your religion, but never, never can you change your favourite football team,” but in the case of one KwaZulu-Natal politician his change in politics has not been popular.
Former DA KZN leader Zwakele Mncwango’s switch to ActionSA has left some in his new political home disgruntled.
They feel that he was parachuted to the top while they had been waiting in the wings to lead the party in the province. Mncwango two weeks ago officially left the DA to join Herman Mashaba’s ActionSA, to become its new chairperson in the province, a move that he had initially denied was on the cards.
Mncwango’s move from the DA to ActionSA may have happened almost under the radar, in a wider national political context, but it remained a significant transfer of one of the most recognisable political figures in provincial politics and has left some defectors from ActionSA unhappy.
WhatsApp conversations between former regional chairpersons and secretaries of ActionSA, who have since formed a breakaway party Activists South Africa, and some national leaders of the party show that there was unhappiness about the move within the ActionSA ranks in KZN.
Bongani Caluza, formerly ActionSA Provincial Secretary, told the Sunday Tribune that Mncwango’s move to ActionSA had been unethical.
He claimed that Action SA leadership had been tapping Mncwango since August and that they as provincial leaders were aware of Mncwango’s pending arrival although he was still a DA member in the provincial legislature.
“Every time we raised concerns over Mncwango’s move to ActionSA, it was rubbished by the national leadership even though we were aware of meetings being held in hotels where Zwakele was being recruited to run the province.
“They can’t say ActionSA promotes ethical leadership when we are within the organisation yet there are people in legislature benches of other parties but already have an interest in our party. That is unethical leadership,” Caluza said.
He also accused Mncwango of joining ActionSA for the salary that comes with the position of chairperson. Speaking to the Sunday Tribune this week, Mncwango spoke glowingly of joining a party (ActionSA) that espoused values such as non-racialism, securing the future of all South Africans, upholding the rule of law and ensuring it is fair on everyone.
Mncwango said that the notion that his appointment had not been popular among the members was not true.
He said that Mashaba had simply approached him because of his track record in politics and nothing more, adding that there was no monetary incentive for him to join ActionSA.
“There are people who left ActionSA and formed their own organisation because they had their own issues with leadership and in terms of the approach, so when they were told by the leadership that it would start looking for someone to lead the province, some had expectations.
“In their deliberate approach to break away they were trying to mislead many members and I can tell that many of those members who were misled are now coming back and they now have faith in this leadership,” Mncwango said.
He also dispelled allegations that his move to ActionSA had been motivated by money, saying that under current economic conditions South African political parties were struggling financially and that this was worsened by the Political Party Funding Act.
“As a member of the legislature, especially for me as a Chief Whip, someone who was earning about R1.2 million per annum with all the benefits one was getting, there was no way that any party could afford that,” Mncwango said.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE