After taking a four-month sabbatical from the political arena, former DA chair Veliswa Mvenya has come out as the newest member of the controversial African Transformation Movement.
Mvenya resigned in May but vowed she would be back after she regained her strength.
On Monday it was announced that Mvenya had joined the new African Transformation Movement (ATM), which is claimed to have strong links to former ANC president Jacob Zuma.
Speaking to Weekend Post on Friday, Mvenya denied this and said Zuma was still actively campaigning for the ANC.
She said she liked the fact that ATM was being criticised because it meant people viewed it as a threat.
“People know that if they say it’s a Zuma party others will reject it and say they can’t associate with ATM.
“You cannot say it’s a Zuma party,” Mvenya said.
“Zuma appears every day on TV addressing members of the ANC in ANC regalia.
“He never left the ANC . . . and ATM would never hide him because they’d want to use his experience and charm to garner votes.”
Mvenya said several political parties had approached her during her four-month break from politics, but she did not want to join a party that did not align with what she believed the country needed.
She said the ANC and EFF did not offer SA anything new but rehashed old ideas.
“I looked at ATM and felt drawn to it.” This was because of its values of peace, ubuntu and transformation, she said.
She said the government had done something wrong in the past 24 years because everyone in SA was angry – “even in parking lots, people are shouting at each other”.
“Political parties are fighting among themselves and the only way to talk to government is through burning infrastructure, burning a councillor’s house.
“There’s too much violence and it seems government is not working,” she said.
“ATM is an inclusive party and it strives for South Africans to stop being divided along racial lines.”
Prior to her resignation from the DA in May, Mvenya had drawn up a resignation letter in 2016 but shredded it following an intervention by senior party leaders.
The former maths teacher was instrumental in convincing more black people to vote for the party.
She identified DA councillor and federal executive committee member Athol Trollip as the main reason for her quitting.
She said Trollip had isolated her from other members and forced her to throw in the towel after 18 years with the party.