The African Transformation Movement (ATM) in the Eastern Cape has accused former member Buyisile Ngqulwana of being an ANC pawn used to sow divisions in the party.This comes after Ngqulwana broke ranks and asked the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to remove the ATM from the ballot paper.ATM provincial chair Veliswa Mvenya said the party was not shocked by Ngqulwana’s actions, but was relieved that he had “exposed himself for what he is”.“As the ATM we are neither shocked nor surprised by his actions,” Mvenya said.“We have been waiting patiently to see what the ANC will do as a dirty trick to weaken the ATM.“The ANC is well known for being threatened by new political parties that are making inroads in its constituencies.“It is well known that it infiltrates and destroys them.”She said ATM members were waiting to see what angle or whom the ANC was going to use to try to infiltrate the party.ANC provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi denied the accusations, saying the ATM should rather deal with its internal squabbles.“That’s absolute nonsense,” he said.“The ATM should shoulder blame for its internal mess.“It must rescue itself from its internal quagmire and disabuse itself of focusing on the ANC.“The truth is that the ATM is really a project gone wrong.”IEC spokesperson Kate Bapela confirmed that the commission had received the complaint, but refused to comment further as the matter was under investigation.Last week, Ngqulwana, believed to be one of the founding members of the ATM, issued a statement requesting that the party be deregistered.He claimed that at a recent conference, the South African Council of Messianic Churches in Christ (SACMCC) and the African Transformation Congress (ATC) resolved that the ATM had been fraudulently registered.“The ATC constitution was used fraudulently to register the ATM and the IEC did not scrutinise the paperwork in the process of registration,” he said.“The conference therefore resolved that the SACMCC/ATC distances itself from the ATM.”But Mvenya claimed that Ngqulwana was part of the team that registered the ATM, knowing the party would adopt the ATC’s constitution.“When the party was established it was referred to as the ATC and upon registration, the IEC requested that we do not register as ATC, as these abbreviations caused confusion in the ballot paper,” he said.Comment could not be obtained from Ngqulwana.