Ex-ANC leaders take helm in DA

LESS than a month after joining the DA, two former ANC leaders in Buffalo City Metro have been elected as the opposition party’s chairman and deputy chairman in Nxarhuni’s ward 26.

Mthuthuzeli Phakade, 62, a former ANC councillor in the area who defected to the DA last month, was elected as the ward 26 branch chairman and Manyano Zandi as his deputy on Saturday.

Zandi was one of the many unhappy ANC members who contested the August local government elections as independent candidates following complaints of internal processes not properly followed.

Phakade and Zandi, who are popular figures in the area, now hope to build the DA in the ward as the opposition party hopes to eat away at ANC support going to the 2019 general and provincial polls.

Phakade told the Daily Dispatch yesterday that he was ready for the mammoth task of building the DA in the branch.

“I am ready to work hard and grow this party, but I want young people to take centre stage and lead.

“I was not even expecting to be elected but they told me that they elected me because of my experience,” said the former ANC veteran.

Phakade said he had joined the ANC in the early 1980s and had always been a member in good standing.

However, the internal squabbles, gatekeeping, factionalism and manipulation of process that have gripped the party for years led him to defect to the DA, he said.

“I was no longer going to ANC meetings because of all the infighting.

“I got tired of us as members not being consulted when decisions affecting us are taken.

“In the last ANC meeting that I attended, people physically beat each other with chairs,” he said.

Zandi could not be reached for comment at the time of writing.

Ward 26 DA proportional representative Roy Angelbeck heaped praise on the two new recruits. He said Phakade and Zandi would contribute immensely to the party’s growth.

“They are viewed as good leaders. They have been around for some time and we’re very excited and they are excited as well,” he said.

Dr W B Rubusana ANC acting regional secretary Mkhawuleli Maleki said they were not happy to lose members to other parties. —