Putting the Vim on tired old party rags
● The emergence of new political organisations such as the MK Party, Build One South Africa and Rise Mzansi has meant some politicians have had to ditch old party glad rags to make way for new ones.
But what are they doing with their old regalia, from T-shirts to scarves and hats to jackets, as they gear up to campaign for their new political homes ahead of the May 29 elections?
EFF member Carl Niehaus, who has changed political affiliation more than once in the past two years, told the Sunday Times his ANC T-shirts have been repurposed as cleaning rags.
The former Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association spokesperson was fired from the ANC in December 2022 and launched the African Radical Economic Transformation Alliance — which he then dumped in favour of the Red Berets.
“I had quite a few [ANC] T-shirts and regalia which I am simply using as cleaning cloths here in my house, including cleaning the floor of my toilet,” Niehaus said.
He was unapologetic about this, saying “at least the ANC is, for a change, useful for something”.
“I’m not in the habit of throwing things away without using them, I thought the ANC has been so useless, so terrible to the county ... At least I could use its T-shirts for something useful, which is for cleaning.”
Niehaus said he had about 20 ANC T-shirts stashed in a container “where we go when we need a cloth for cleaning”.
Also in favour of recycling is former African Democratic Change leader Visvin Reddy, 54, who said he did not mind being known as a “political slut”.
Reddy, who formed the party in 2020, entered the political arena in 1993 as a founding member of the Minority Front before defecting to the DA in 2004.
After just two months with the blue party, Reddy left to join the ANC, where he spent a decade. He has recently come out as a staunch MK Party supporter. Reddy told the Sunday Times that when he leaves a political party, he finds another use for the old party merchandise.
“I just use them for cleaning and mopping the floor and wiping my dirty shoes. Once I’ve left and no longer align myself with that party, I make sure that I dispose of whatever belongs to that political party,” he said.
“If you are going to vote for the same political party that hasn’t been able to do what it said it would 10 years ago or more, you must be a special kind of stupid.”
Former ANC MP Mervyn Dirks, who has also signed on with the MK Party, plans to return more than 100 ANC T-shirts, doeks and table cloths to his former party.
Dirks, who was fired by the ANC after joining the MK Party three weeks ago, said he had been thinking about what to do with his now out-of-date wardrobe.
“I was actually thinking this morning of calling the ANC in my ward, and telling them I want to donate ANC T-shirts and clothes because I don’t want them [the ANC] to say they were short of T-shirts and material when we defeat them, so they don’t cry foul,” Dirks said.
He showed the Sunday Times dozens of unworn ANC T-shirts.
“In fact, since Cyril Ramaphosa was elected as the president of the ANC in 2017, I’ve never worn an ANC T-shirt bearing his face.”
Dirks said he left the ANC because of ideological and political differences with the ruling party under Ramaphosa. “I am not aggrieved that the ANC did not deploy me or anything like that. Leaving the ANC was nothing personal,” he said.
Former ANC Youth League leader Magasela Mzobe, who defected to the EFF in October last year, started giving away his ANC regalia even before the switch, because he had literally outgrown it.
“As you gain weight some T-shirts don’t fit any more,” he explained. “With me it wasn’t an instant decision [leaving the ANC] so I had largely stopped wearing the regalia and had already started giving it to people.”
He said as he had not taken part in ANC campaigns for the 2021 local government elections, it had been some years since he last bought party gear. “I never had one T-shirt or a cap at the time of departing.”
Asked if he had considered using old T-shirts as cleaning rags, Mzobe said: “Out of respect, I wouldn’t have done that. I don’t want to lie, I didn’t burn anything, I had given them away.”
Umvoti mayor Philani Mavundla, founder and leader of the Abantu Batho Congress (ABC), has kept his regalia from his former party, the ANC in KwaZuluNatal.
Mavundla, who was with the ANC until he resigned in June 2013, joined the National Freedom Party in 2019. In 2020 he founded ABC and last year joined a coalition with the ANC that saw him return as mayor.
He said he had kept some valuable ANC items in his “museum” at home which he plans to auction one day.
“I have expensive golf shirts, scarves, caps, shoes and jackets. I want to make a statement with them one day; maybe I will auction them,” he said.
“The most valuable items are the expensive shoes I bought in Mangaung and a leather jacket I bought during a national general council in Durban. As soon as it’s put out there that they belong to me the price will skyrocket instantly. I also have the huge portrait of Jacob Zuma, the same one that is in Moses Mabhida stadium. I will auction all of that one day.”