Former ActionSA councillor in Tshwane Novina Pillay has moved to the Democratic Alliance (DA), with the party welcoming her contributions to the party at large.

Pillay resigned as a member and public representative of ActionSA, following “longstanding unhappiness” with the direction her former political party has taken.

“Bullying, ostracism, and antagonism by ActionSA leadership, to their public representatives was alleged by Cllr Pillay, and the behaviour of that party after her resignation has substantiated this. In a press statement following her resignation, the ActionSA chairperson insinuates that Cllr Pillay is ‘just another councillor’ – trying to downplay her significant role as a community leader and campaigner for her communities,” said DA Gauteng North regional chairperson Crezane Bosch.

ActionSA, however, took issue with the DA describing Pillay as a “senior leader” of the ActionSA.

ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont said this was a “desperation that has become a daily occurrence as their prolific governance failures in Tshwane are being exposed”.

Beaumont explained that Pillay has never held any office in ActionSA and has served only as a Councillor.

“While ActionSA wishes her well in the DA, the claim that Pillay is a senior leader in ActionSA is laughable,” he noted.

“Despite the efforts to deceive, today's announcement says more about the DA than ActionSA. Under the leadership of Dr Nasiphi Moya, many residents of Tshwane are realising that the bar of governance had been very low under consecutive DA mayors. This spreading realisation is clearly a source of insecurity for Brink and the DA against which these kinds of stunts are easily contextualised,” he said.

Beaumont highlighted that just last week Moya secured Tshwane’s energy supply by concluding a settlement with Eskom for the R6.7-billion in debt that former Mayor Cilliers Brink and his DA predecessors allowed to “recklessly balloon” from R2.9-billion to R7.8-billion in just 18 months.

“It is developments like this that are shattering of the myth of good governance under the DA in Tshwane and the resulting insecurity is at the heart of stunts like the one announced today,” he added.

He pointed out that while the DA focuses on “stunts”, Moya will continue to focus on the delivery backlogs that developed under the DA's leadership in government.