Herman Mashaba has reacted to Liam Jacobs’s Democratic Alliance (DA) shock departure, stating that he’s unfazed by the news.
Like the young MP, Herman resigned from the party over an internal race row.
Surprisingly, Liam jumped ship to the Patriotic Alliance (PA) under the leadership of Gayton McKenzie, whom he recently criticised in a parliamentary committee meeting.
HERMAN MASHABA REACTS TO LIAM JACOBS’S DA SHOCK SNUB
On Saturday, 14 June, South Africans woke up to the news that Liam Jacobs had swapped the DA for the PA.
While many were confused and shocked by the news, Herman Mashaba was not.
Responding to a snippet from Facebook Live where Liam alleged that the DA had secured the majority of the coloured community vote, but had not elected a coloured representative as a cabinet minister or deputy minister, Herman responded: “I’m not surprised”.
In another X post, the DA laughed off the post’s claim that it had not received Liam Jacobs’s resignation letter.
He posted: “They must just move on. The train has left the station”.
Like Liam, Herman – who now heads ActionSA – was a prominent member of the Democratic Alliance who left over party politics.
In 2019, Herman Mashaba quit his position as Joburg mayor and DA member amid an internal race row.
He said in his resignation statement: “I cannot reconcile myself with a group of people who believe that race is irrelevant in the discussion of inequality and poverty in South Africa. I cannot reconcile myself with people who do not see that South Africa is more unequal today than it was in 1994”.
PHUMZILE VAN DAMME WEIGHS IN TOO
Another former prominent DA leader weighing in was Phumzile van Damme.
Wishing Liam Jacobs well, she posted on X: “All of the best at your new political home. You owe no one your life or its decisions. Your life is yours & yours alone to live & do what makes you happy.
She added: “I don’t care which party you belong to, I care for all young MPs.”
In 2021, Phumzile, a Democratic Alliance MP and shadow minister of communications, quit the party.
Hinting at internal issues, she said at the time: “My resignation as an MP is not because the DA is a so-called ‘racist party’ but because of a clique of individuals. And in order not to make the good women and men still in the DA suffer, I will not delve further into this.”
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