POLL | Do you think Bongani Baloyi will regret his move to ActionSA?

Bongani Baloyi’s move to ActionSA has drawn mixed reactions from some of his former colleagues in the DA. 

Last week the former Midvaal mayor joined former DA Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba’s movement a month after resigning from the official opposition party.

DA federal council chairperson Helen Zille said Baloyi would soon regret the move.

Baloyi said in an interview with the Sunday Times that his decision to leave the DA after 14 years was because the party had become “extremely toxic” after Zille was elected federal council chair in 2019.

Baloyi said even though he had successes under the DA, he could not see himself representing a party in which he no longer believed.

“I don’t believe in whatever the DA is trying to do at this point in time. I don’t have anything personal against Helen Zille, or John Steenhuisen for that matter, but the entire body [of the] DA and what it has become today is a space that’s foreign to me and I want to go elsewhere,” he said.

In response to Baloyi's claim, Zille said she met him in Johannesburg last year “to discuss his plans for his future DA career trajectory”.

She said the meeting was “amicable and pleasant”.

“I last saw Bongani late 2021 in Jozi (at his request) to discuss his plans for his future DA career trajectory. It was, as always, amicable and pleasant. I have never had one unpleasant interaction with Bongani. Quite the contrary. My prediction? I think he will regret his move,” said Zille.

Responding to Zille, Mashaba said he has yet to come across anyone who regrets leaving the DA.

“I still have to come across anyone who regrets his or her move to leave the DA. Perhaps I live in a fantasy world,” he said.

Baloyi joins a list of many black politicians who have left the DA, including Mashaba, Lindiwe Mazibuko, Mmusi Maimane and Phumzile Van Damme.