'I knew I was being used by the DA' - Liam Jacobs on joining the Patriotic Alliance
Liam Jacobs joins the Patriotic Alliance amid political turmoil.
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While the Democratic Alliance (DA) has yet to confirm Liam Jacobs' abrupt departure, the Patriotic Alliance (PA) has welcomed the 24-year-old politician into its ranks, following a dramatic political shift announced during a midnight Facebook Live broadcast by PA President and current Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie.
The PA claimed Jacobs was 'weaponised' by the DA against them over the past three years.
According to McKenzie, Jacobs had been deployed to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Sport, Arts and Culture with the intent to undermine the PA and discredit its efforts. The party further alleges that DA Federal Executive Chair Helen Zille worked strenuously to exclude the PA from the Government of National Unity (GNU).
The PA has criticised the DA's alleged strategy of using prominent coloured leaders to curtail the party's expansion.
"This cynical strategy has not worked," the PA statement read, adding that the DA is growing increasingly alarmed by rising support among coloured voters for the PA.
The party accused the DA of benefitting politically from coloured communities while failing to reciprocate with representation, highlighting the lack of a single coloured minister or deputy minister in the GNU.
Responding to speculation that his defection was driven by promises of a government post, Jacobs said nothing could be further from the truth.
"I have come home to the PA because what Gayton said hit me hard this week after our Portfolio Committee meeting. I knew I was being used," he said.
Jacobs expressed gratitude to McKenzie and the PA. "Wherever the President wants me to be, whatever work he has for me, I am ready. I have been promised nothing, except the chance to be part of the fastest-growing party in South Africa."
He went on to say that he looked into what the PA is and what it stands for. "I feel genuinely loved and welcomed here. I am finally home," added Jacobs.
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