The Democratic Alliance (DA) has lost two more senior members.
Johannesburg chairperson and caucus leader Funzi Ngobeni and former CEO Paul Boughey have resigned from the party to join Herman Mashaba’s new political movement.
Ngobeni was the DA’s candidate to replace Mashaba when he resigned as Joburg mayor last year.
Boughey resigned from the CEO position, but remained a member of the party, after the release of a report looking into the DA’s dismal performance in last year’s elections, which recommended that he and Mmusi Maimane step down from their positions.
Ngobeni, on the other hand, was the DA’s candidate to replace Mashaba when he resigned as mayor in Joburg.
Meanwhile, the DA said it was disappointed by Ngobeni’s resignation, saying it wished him well in his new political home.
The DA would now follow internal caucus rules to elect a new leader while the Johannesburg region would be led by its deputy chairperson Tsepo Mhlongo in the interim.
The party’s Gauteng leader John Moody said: “Funzi has been in the party as a member of the mayoral committee for finance almost as Herman Mashaba’s right-hand man and when Herman left, he became our mayoral candidate. He has also been the leader of the caucus and also the regional chair over the past few months.”