COPE’s Kayser set to cross over to DA

[caption id="attachment_142021" align="aligncenter" width="500"] RANO KAYSER[/caption]

COPE regional secretary and Nelson Mandela Bay councillor Rano Kayser will officially cross the floor today to join the DA.

The party has been trying to keep the identity of the councillor secret until 10am today, when it plans to reveal the name of the person crossing over.

But four insiders confirmed yesterday that Kayser had been approached by the DA to join the party – and had accepted.

Kayser, who is also a national office bearer for COPE, declined to comment.

The Herald reported last month that speculation was rife that Kayser was one of the confidential candidates on the DA’s list from Port Elizabeth’s northern areas.

But he denied it at the time, saying: “What is strange is that I’m the only one who’s being speculated about when there are over 100 000 people in the northern areas.”

He will join a host of other COPE members who have defected to the DA in recent years, including former COPE MP Nqaba Bhanga, who moved over to the DA in 2014, taking with him a number of supporters.

The DA’s Bay caucus leader, Retief Odendaal, who will welcome the opposition councillor with mayoral candidate Athol Trollip today, declined to comment on the identity of the opposition councillor joining the party.

He said they had a vacancy in the council which they had to fill.

The vacancy had been created by the expulsion of two DA councillors – Bahle Ngqondela and Mzukisi Ncamani.