Another black leader leaves DA

PATRICIA KOPANE: FORMER MP TO JOIN ACTIONSA

‘I no longer believe the DA is the political vehicle that I joined in 2003.’

Democratic Alliance (DA) member Patricia Kopane yesterday announced her resignation from the party shortly before joining ActionSA. Kopane is the latest in a string of black leaders to have left the DA for ActionSA. She was the DA’s Free State leader between 2012 and 2020 and also a member of parliament (MP).

After 19 years with the party, Kopane said she no longer felt like she belonged in the DA. “The truth is that I no longer believe the DA is the political vehicle that I joined in 2003. I do not feel that I belong in the DA or that I have space to make political contributions in my country.

“I harbour no ill-will for the DA and wish nothing but the best to the many good people who remain within the party,” Kopane said in a statement.

Kopane announced that she is in discussions with ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba about what position she will take in the former Johannesburg mayor’s party.

Mashaba said he reached out to Kopane following her resignation.

“I have called her personally and signed her as a member of the party and will set up a meeting with her to explore the open declaration and interest in joining ActionSA,” he said.

Kopane joins other prominent black members of the DA who terminated their memberships of the party, such as Mashaba and former federal leader, Mmusi Maimane. Bongani Baloyi, former DA member and mayor of Midvaal local municipality, joined ActionSA as the party’s Gauteng provincial chair in January.

Former Gauteng provincial leader John Moodey also joined ActionSA after leaving the DA in 2020. ActionSA national chair Michael Beaumont was a managing director at the DA in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng before being appointed as the chief of staff in the City of Joburg in 2016 by Mashaba.

Former Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Athol Trollip resigned from the DA, along with Maimane, in 2019. He joined Action SA in February.