--- title: "Another Patriotic Alliance councillor in Cape Town quits to join the Democratic Alliance" description: "‘I’ve become disillusioned by the PA since I joined in 2021,’ said Marvin Sampson, a former Patriotic Alliance mayoral candidate in the City of Cape Town, who has jumped ship to the Democratic Alliance." type: "NewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "METRO PARTY SHIFTS" author: "Suné Payne" author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/sune-payne/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-03-06-another-patriotic-alliance-councillor-in-cape-town-quits-to-join-the-democratic-alliance/" published: "2023-03-06T22:02:02" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 654 --- # Another Patriotic Alliance councillor in Cape Town quits to join the Democratic Alliance > ‘I’ve become disillusioned by the PA since I joined in 2021,’ said Marvin Sampson, a former Patriotic Alliance mayoral candidate in the City of Cape Town, who has jumped ship to the Democratic Alliance. By Suné Payne · Published 7 March 2023, 00:02 SAST ## Key points - The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomed Marvin Sampson, a Councillor from the Patriotic Alliance (PA), to their party on Monday. This marks the second PA Councillor to resign and join the DA in two weeks. Sampson, who was a mayoral candidate for the PA in the 2021 local government elections, sent his resignation letter to the speaker of the city council and PA secretary-general on Saturday morning. He cited various issues, including a “culture of fear” and a lack of policy and procedure within the PA as reasons for his leaving. His colleague Aslam Richards also defected from the PA to join the DA last week; they both attended Monday’s briefing where Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis praised Sampson's commitment to improving people’s lives in Cape Town. The PA won four seats in this year’s local government elections, including one seat from the DA in a by-election featuring neither an ANC nor DA candidate. The DA has challenged Marlon Daniels of the PA to have Cheslyn Steenberg stand down as councillor and face them in a by-election. Daniels declined comment due to what he believes is biased pro-DA reporting by Daily Maverick. - Councillor Marvin Sampson, a mayoral candidate for the Patriotic Alliance in the 2021 local government elections, has joined the Democratic Alliance. - He attributed his leaving the PA to various issues, including a “culture of fear” and a lack of policy and procedure. - Last week, Aslam Richards left the PA to join the DA. He attended Monday’s briefing. - The DA has challenged Gayton McKenzie, leader of the PA, to a by-election in Ward 56. ## Content The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomed a new member to its party on Monday — Marvin Sampson, a councillor for the Patriotic Alliance (PA) in the City of Cape Town. He was the second PA councillor in the city to resign and join the DA in the past two weeks. Sampson, a City of Cape Town mayoral candidate for the PA in the 2021 local government elections, sent a resignation letter to Felicity Purchase, the speaker of the city council, and Chinelle Stevens, the PA secretary-general, on Saturday morning. On Monday, he officially joined the DA during a media briefing at the party’s metro office in the Cape Town CBD. Introducing Sampson, DA caucus leader in the City of Cape Town, Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said that during the 2021 local government election campaign trail, he had noticed Sampson wasn’t interested in political point-scoring but was focused on community issues. “Marvin was the most committed,” said Hill-Lewis, adding that Sampson was a natural for the DA for his commitment to improving the lives of people in the city. “Let me put it on record, this is not a smear campaign,” said Sampson. **Visit**[***Daily Maverick’s*****home page**](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=in_article_link&utm_campaign=homepage)**for more news, analysis and investigations** He attributed his leaving the PA to various issues, including a “culture of fear” and a lack of policy and procedure. “As a PR councillor with the Patriotic Alliance, if you don’t watch a Facebook Live, you don’t know what is going on with the organisation — if you miss one, you are totally off track,” he said. Within the PA, there were no systems, policies or procedures, claimed Sampson. “You have a sense that one person decides for everybody.” He also said there were no principles involved in coalition discussions. “I’ve become disillusioned with the PA since joining in 2021. It was not intended for us… it was not what it was sold to us,” said Sampson. “ Last week, Aslam Richards left the PA to join the DA in Cape Town. He attended Monday’s briefing. Sampson referred to Richards and said: “As my colleague Aslam said, I cannot respect it any more, I cannot see it as my home.” Sampson was a founding member of the [Cape Coloured Congress](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-11-03-cape-coloured-congress-says-poll-results-surreal-as-party-nips-at-the-heels-of-da-anc-and-good/) and quit the party in 2021, to join the PA. He was a proportional representative councillor for the PA and the party’s mayoral candidate in the 2021 local government elections. While his base was in Mitchells Plain, he worked all over the city. The PA won four seats in the 2021 elections. #### **Ward 56** In February, the PA won a seat from the DA in a by-election that featured neither a [DA nor an African National Congress](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-02-06-missing-in-action-anc-and-da-absent-from-key-by-election-in-cape-town/) candidate. In Ward 56, Kensington/Maitland, prominent community worker Cheslyn Steenberg ran for ward candidate in the by-election as PA candidate and won 41% of votes cast. JP Smith, the DA Western Cape deputy provincial leader confirmed to*Daily Maverick* that an investigation was undertaken about the party’s absence and a report was with the party’s FedEx for consideration. Smith had a message for Gayton McKenzie, the PA’s leader: “If you’re so confident in yourself, in your brand: face us in a by-election, have Cheslyn Steenberg stand down as a councillor and face us where the DA stands, where the ANC stands, and let’s have a proper by-election. Sampson added: “I’ve been saying it ever since the by-election was won: the PA never won the by-election, the candidate won that by-election. Cheslyn Steenberg won that by-election and not the PA.” Sampson warned of an exodus ahead. “There are more PA members coming, more councillors coming because they \[are\] starting to see the light,” he said. *Daily Maverick* asked PA national chair Marlon Daniels for comment on some of the claims made by Sampson. He told this reporter he was reluctant to respond to queries from *Daily Maverick* “because of their biased and pro-Democratic Alliance reporting”. **DM**