DA's Sarupen hopes Jacobs 'comes to his senses' after defecting to PA
With still no formal resignation in sight, Democratic Alliance (DA) deputy federal council chair, Ashor Sarupen, believes Liam Jacobs has made a huge mistake which he’ll come to regret soon when he ditched the party for the Patriotic Alliance (PA).
A screengrab of MP Liam Jacobs during a meeting of the sports portfolio committee on 1 April 2025. Picture: Parliament
JOHANNESBURG - With still no formal resignation in sight, Democratic Alliance (DA) deputy federal council chair, Ashor Sarupen, believes Liam Jacobs has made a huge mistake which he’ll come to regret soon when he ditched the party for the Patriotic Alliance (PA).
Many in the DA still don’t have answers following a Facebook live announcement in the early hours on Saturday by PA president, Gayton McKenzie, and Jacobs announcing that he had joined his political outfit.
The DA's also moved to inform the National Assembly that Jacobs was no longer one of its MPs.
Sarupen, speaking on EWN's Politricking with Tshidi Madia, said that he remains none the wiser when it comes to the motive behind Jacobs' decision.
"I think Liam will come in time, when he’s older, to appreciate that the DA put a lot of faith and trust and development work into him, our leaders' programme, federal executive and all sorts of things, we really did try our best. I do hope he comes to his senses sooner rather than later."
He said that since the inception of the PA, the DA had seen some of its members leaving to join the party headed up by McKenzie, adding that many who opted for that route often did an about turn.
"In my internal management party hat, lots of people go across to the PA and after 6, 12 and 18 months, the longevity seems to be 18 months the most, they come back. They want to come back and in different parts of the country we take them back, in different parts of the country we don't."