Overview
- Delport announced his switch at a Cape Town media briefing led by DA federal council chair Helen Zille.
- Three ANC figures—Langeberg ward councillor Daniel Baadjies, Cederberg ward councillor Paul Strauss, and regional executive member Jason Donn—also declared they were joining the DA.
- Zille framed the recruitment as values‑driven and non‑transactional, stressing constitutionalism and the rule of law while rejecting incentives and contrasting the DA with the PA’s transactional style.
- The ANC, through national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu, denounced Delport’s defection as a betrayal marked by “regressive and narrow” ideology and said the party’s renewal drive continues.
- Delport cited factionalism and his shift from elected PEC secretary to a task‑team role after the structure’s reconfiguration, while the two ward councillors still must lodge council resignations that would trigger by‑elections.