METRO PARTY SHIFTS
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.
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.
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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 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 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
This is great news. The PA will sell themselves to the highest bidder in the quest to maximize political power. The best interests of the people they claim to represent are irrelevant if it means compromising political advantage.
This is a great pity because Gayton McKenzie can be a mover, a shaker and a doer who is not afraid to speak truth to power. He is fearless and does not let red tape stand in his way. In this capacity he can be a great servant of the people. Sadly however he is first and foremost a political opportunist.
As Rob Hersov recommends, it would be ideal if he were deployed to Eskom with the sole mandate of eliminating corruption because he understands gangsters and would not be afraid on murderous cartels. In that capacity he would to more to sort out electricity than the so-called newly appointed minister of electricity who was mandated by Cyril last night to sort out every problem Eskom faces except corruption. Cyril’s silence on that was deafening.
If Marvin Sampson’s prediction that he will be followed by an exodus of PA members from the party who don’t see the ANC or EFF as their future home, that would be of huge benefit to the political landscape and SA’s long suffering voters.
“This is a great pity because Gayton McKenzie can be a mover, a shaker and a doer who is not afraid to speak truth to power. He is fearless and does not let red tape stand in his way. In this capacity he can be a great servant of the people. Sadly however he is first and foremost a political opportunist.”
So your first two sentences are meaningless because Gayton goes wherever there is money and power. He has gotten into bed with the ANC because he knows they are willing to give him what he wants… Hopefully voters catch a wake up.
These councillors have seen the light. These small parties will sell their souls for a handful of silver.