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Jacobs reiterated that he had not been offered any positions by the PA.
Liam Jacobs joins Patriotic Alliance. Picture: Supplied
DA MP Liam Jacobs has left the party to join the Patriotic Alliance (PA), just a few days after his confrontation with PA leader Gayton McKenzie in parliament.
The PA confirmed to The Citizen that Jacobs joined the party on Friday night.
DA national spokespeople Willie Aucamp and Karabo Khakhau confirmed the move, but said Jacobs had not tendered his resignation letter.
“The Democratic Alliance has learned of the fact that Mr Liam Jacobs has joined the Patriotic Alliance,” they said.
“We have not received any formal resignation letter yet. But in terms of the constitution of the DA, it is an automatic cessation of your DA membership should you join a different party. The DA wishes Liam Jacobs all the best with his future endeavours.”
Jacobs vs McKenzie
On Tuesday, Jacobs and McKenzie were at odds in parliament over the appointments of the National Arts Council (NAC) board members affiliated with his new political home.
“After 25 minutes of questioning, he still could not explain what his thinking was behind his board appointment,” said Jacobs at the time.
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“Where are the checks and balances? The lead interviewer is PA. The person who becomes chairperson is PA. All under a minister who is also PA!
“While the law allows the minister to constitute it all as such, clearly there’s some moral risk in the application of the law here.”
PA welcomes him ‘home’
The PA welcomed Jacobs’ move, saying his critical comments abut the party were well-orchestrated.
“Jacobs, 24 years old, from the Northern Cape, is one of South Africa’s brightest rising stars in national politics. He was, however, weaponised by the DA against the PA over the past three years,” the PA said.
“Now that Gayton McKenzie is the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Liam Jacobs was sent to sit in the portfolio committee for sport, arts and culture to try to make the PA look as bad as possible – the same PA that the DA’s federal executive leader, Helen Zille, did all she can to try to keep it out of the Government of National Unity (GNU).
“The DA’s strategy of using outspoken and influential coloured leaders to target the PA has been one of its biggest tools to try to contain the growth of the PA. This cynical strategy has not worked, though, and the DA is terrified of the growing realisation among coloured voters that the DA has been the biggest beneficiaries of the love, support and faith of the so-called ‘coloured vote’, but they have not returned this love.”
‘I am finally here’
Jacobs said he, too, realised he was being used against the PA, saying that he had not joined the party because he had been promised positions.
“A big thank you to president McKenzie and all the patriots who have accepted me with open arms and love,” said Jacobs.
“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 and to make a contribution to fighting for the people, rather than fighting against those who have been fighting for young people like me.
“I looked into what the PA is, what it stands for and the family that it is, and feel genuinely loved and welcomed here, despite what I’ve said and done in the past. When the president announced me, I felt a calm and happiness unlike anything I’ve ever known. I could not stop smiling. I am finally home.”
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