Former DA MPL Nosimo Balindlela is not proud of the journey she took when she left the ANC for breakaway party COPE.
In an interview with the Daily Dispatch on Sunday, Balindlela said she had rejoined the ANC to form part of the President Cyril Ramaphosa-led #ThumaMina campaign.
“I want people to know that I live to help the poor. I left the ANC back then because of corruption and I now want to assist in the Thuma Mina campaign,” she said.
However, she would not be drawn into commenting about her experiences with COPE and the DA, and the reasons she left them.
Through instructions from the provincial ANC head office Calata House, the Stutterheim-based Mahlathi sub-region hosted an event on Friday as her welcoming party.
She left the ruling party in 2008 to join COPE, and migrated to the DA in 2012.She resigned as the DA’s MPL in May and in the same week the party lost its provincial chair, Veliswa Mvenya.
The organiser of the welcoming party, Nicholas Monti, who is also the local election team coordinator, said Balindlela’s return was a major boost to the election campaign.
“When someone comes back to the party, we cannot close the doors to them. We welcomed her with warm and open arms. We know her history, we know her energy, she was part of the women’s league. We are going into the elections, so we are going to need all hands on deck,” Monti said.
He said the sub-region decided that the former Eastern Cape premier should be officially welcomed in August as part of women’s month celebrations.
“We are also hoping that the people that she left with to COPE and to the DA, will also return to the ANC.”
Simanyene branch secretary Monde Mlenze echoed Monti’s sentiments.“Our morale is at an all-time high. This will obviously be a vehicle for our elections campaign,” he said.
Balindlela joined COPE after being axed from her position amid a humiliating decision to ditch her while she was aboard. At the time of her resignation from the DA the party released a statement saying her decision was misguided...