ANC PRESIDENT RECEIVED INTO THE FOLD OF THE ANC, VERY SENIOR COUNCILLORS OF THE DA/ID AS WELL AS UDM LEADERS AND ITS YOUTH MOVEMENT IN THE WESTERN CAPE PROVINCE

The President of the ANC Comrade Jacob Zuma today received into the fold of the ANC, very senior councillors of the DA/ID as well as UDM leaders and its Youth Movement in the Western Cape province. The defections happened during a church service at the Cape Goodhope Centre hosted by the Twelve Apostolic Church of Christ which has over a million members in the country and over two million members in the SADC region.

At the same church service, traditional leaders and traditional healers in the Western Cape pledged their support to the ANC and committed to encourage their constituencies to vote ANC in the forth coming local government elections.

The UDM defectors were led by Mr. Dumisani Ximbi the Deputy National Organiser of the UDM and as well as a senior leader of the Twelve Apostolic Church of Christ. Other members of UDM who defected to the ANC are: Mandla Mbenge the Provincial Deputy Chairperson of the UDM in the Western Cape, M Sogoni the former councillor and Secretary General in the West Coast Region, Vusumuzi Hlathi the Regional Deputy Chairperson of UDM, Mziwoxolo Skundla the regional Secretary of the UDM, Nosiphelele Ngombane a regional additional member of the UDM, Siphiwo Salman UDM District Organiser in the Western Cape, Mandisa Mananga UDM District Chairperson, Lazarus Lunguza senior member of the UDM, B Patosi senior member of the UDM, Ace Qubelo the National Chairperson of the UDM Youth, Mteteleli Vellem the provincial chair of UDM in the Western Cape, Lulamile Liwani the provincial treasurer of the UDM youth movement.

The DA/ID alliance defectors were led by Coucillor Dunn a veteran DA/ID councillor who is the Chair of the portfolio Committee in the Council. With him were; Piet Gous who Chairs Scopa in the Cape Town Metro, Aubrey Robinson who chairs the Sub Committee on Welfare, Councillor Neville Jack of ID and twenty others who attended the service.

The defections mark a turning tide in the political landscape in the Western Cape. The ANC has made a concerted effort to expose the DA in entrenching the erstwhile system of apartheid in the Cape Province that resulted in two worlds, one white and affluent and the other is that of Africans and coloured communities who are living in squalor and deprivation.

These defections and other initiatives confirms the ANC's undertaking to win over The Cape Town Metro. They also confirm the belief held by ordinary Capetonians in churches and other sectors that it is only the ANC that is capable to bring lasting change in the Western Cape.

Statement issued by Jackson Mthembu, ANC national spokesperson, April 30 2011

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