Former ANC Western Cape secretary Neville Delport has defected to the Democratic Alliance (DA), accusing the ruling party of discarding elected leaders in favor of “losers” during a controversial provincial reconfiguration. Speaking at a DA press conference on Tuesday, Delport warned that many more disgruntled members will follow suit, citing a failure to represent coloured communities in the Cape Metro.
“Despite winning the elective conference, we were thrown out and replaced by leaders who lost,” Delport said. “The new PEC does not reflect the will of our coloured communities. We had no choice but to find a new political home — and that home is the DA.”
He was joined by ANC defectors Daniel Baadjies, Jason Don, and Paulus Strauss.
DA Federal Council Chairperson Helen Zille described the move as a “milestone” in South Africa’s political realignment. “ANC support is in terminal decline in the Western Cape,” she said. “Voters are abandoning a failing party for the DA’s vision of economic reform, job creation for all, and replacing BEE with real opportunity.”
The ANC hit back, with national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu calling Delport’s exit proof that the reconfiguration is working. “His regressive posture sought to divide people using apartheid classifications,” she said. “Those with such tendencies will not survive a renewed ANC.”
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula defended the PEC disbandment as a “proactive and corrective step” to strengthen the party in a critical province — not a punishment.
The shake-up comes amid growing tensions within the ANC’s Western Cape structures, long a DA stronghold, and signals potential further fragmentation ahead of future elections.