Former Democratic Alliance leader in KwaZulu-Natal and MP Zwakele Mncwango remains mum on whether he will be joining another political party after resigning from the DA. Last week, Mncwango resigned as a member of the provincial legislature for the DA. Just days later, he also announced his resignation from the party.
Mncwango is keeping his cards close to his chest about the future of his political career. He has refused to confirm or deny speculation that he intends either be joining the Action SA or Mmusi Maimane’s, Build One South Africa. Mncwango has accused some senior DA leaders of instilling fear among certain members and of suppressing their views.
“My main concern is the manner in which the freedom of speech has been compromised in the DA and the culture of fear that has been created within the organisation, where members are unable to speak out and speak their mind and members are more allowed to have a different opinion.
Only one person has a right to speak and say whatever she wants. Part of the concern, it’s not a new concern – it’s something that happened long ago, but I was informed by one of the senior members of the organisation, who met another senior member – both of them are members of parliament and one of the senior members from KZN who happened to be white then raised this issue blaming them to say how did you vote for someone who wear animal skins”, says Mncwango.
Wearing uMqhele today reminded me of a senior @Our_DA member(MP)who once Questioned another MP, as to how he voted for me to be a provincial leader because I wear Animal Skins. He was referring to traditional attire imvunulo. **Talks of embracing cultural diversity ** pic.twitter.com/GXVcGUxVJG
— Zwakele Mncwango (@Zwakelem) October 9, 2022
DA leader in KwaZulu-Natal Francois Rodgers has questioned why Mncwango did not raise his concerns while he was still with the party. He’s accused Mncwango of attention seeking.
“I don’t believe and I have known Zwakele for a very long time, I don’t know that he is somebody that is easily intimidated. It’s strange that this type of the incident that he is referring to, that he did not fight it when he was in the organisation to have it addressed. Zwakele had all the rights to charge her with the Federal Legal Commission. What concerns me is when people like in this particular case are given the opportunity to join another political structure and they then use the opportunity to bash the organisation. In Zwakele’s case is political opportunism,” says Rodgers.
Political analyst Professor Bheki Mngomezulu says the resignations of Mbali Ntuli earlier this year and now Mcwango could affect the party’s support. He says Mncwango was the first DA leader to make inroads in rural areas.
“For me, this should send a warning to the DA that they must do self-introspection and do things differently because truth be told, before they know it the EFF might be taking number two spot and then they will be relegated to position three. We have seen a number of other black leaders exiting the stage but in the case of KZN it even more important because so now if you have a party that is not recognising black faces in KZN that is a recipe of disaster. So I don’t see the DA in fact growing in KZN given the turn of events. The exiting of Mbali Ntuli and then now recently Zwakele Mncwango,” says Mngomezulu.
Mncwango says while he has engaged with other parties on his political future, he has not yet made a decision in this regard.
