Cape Town – Former City mayor and a veteran DA politician, Dan Plato, sent shock waves through the political arena when he yesterday resigned from the party to join ex ANC leader Marius Fransman’s People’s Movement for Change (PMC).
Plato made the surprise announcement in the Waves Theatre Cafe in Long Street, Cape Town during a press conference, alongside Fransman.
The reason for his resignation from the party was not made clear, however, he put his confidence in his “new political home”.
“I have officially resigned from the Democratic Alliance as a member, and I have decided to join PMC.
“That’s what I’ve done. I haven’t signed any membership documents yet. That will follow.
“But I am not going to say anything wrong or bad about it.
“The DA has been good to me, however, this is a case of trying to do something different and moving on.
“I am not going to talk badly about the DA. It has been good to be there for all the years. I thank the DA for being good to me,” said Plato.
Plato served as Community Safety MEC and as Cape Town mayor for two non-consecutive terms from May 2009 to June 2011, and from November 2018 to October 2021.
Following Geordin Hill-Lewis’s election as mayor on November 17, 2021, Plato served as an ordinary councillor, and in December 2021, the DA announced that Plato would be taking up Bonginkosi Madikizela’s seat in the legislature.
Plato also dismissed speculation that he was leaving the DA because of racial politics within the party.
He said the party produced great leaders of colour including Tertuis Simmers, Ivan Henry Meyer, and others.
Fransman launched the PMC in January, which he claimed has 95 000 members and draws on the ranks of former politicians, religious leaders, civil society and cultural leaders.
Asked if the PMC was not a party of defectors, Fransman said, he believed the movement “looked to the future”.
“We are delighted to welcome Dan Plato to the PMC family,” he said.
“Our party stands as a home for the poor, working, and middle class, and we unapologetically advocate for a free and liberated Palestine.”
In response to the news of Plato’s resignation, DA Western Cape leader, Tertuis Simmers, said: “The DA notes the resignation of Dan Plato as member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament and member of the DA. We thank him for his years of service, both to the DA and at different levels of government. We wish him well in his endeavours.”
Cape Argus
