Political tourist Liam Jacobs has spoken out about the reasons that forced him to go back to the DA, dumping the Patriotic Alliance of Gayton McKenzie.
Jacobs caused political sphithiphithi on Monday when he was unveiled as a DA member for the second time in about a year, having abandoned the blue party for the PA last year.
Now, Jacobs has claimed that he was a victim of his own ignorance who was misled into joining the PA.
In classic populist style, Jacobs, who is expected to sing for his supper, has thrown all sorts of missiles at his former political home.
I made a mistake
“I should NEVER have left the DA in the first place. I believed Gayton. I believed the PA promises. I personally saw that I was misled by lies. I admit, I made a mistake,” writes Jacobs in his statement distributed through DA communication platforms.
“In June 2025, I left the DA in a manner that disrespected the organization that went to great lengths to invest in my development. I followed it up with statements on social media that caused great harm to the very people who extended their trust and support to me. My departure was disgraceful.
“Despite this, I am deeply aware of what the DA has done for me. It was the DA who took a young activist from the Northern Cape, developed him in Gauteng, and seated him in the National Assembly at only twenty-three years of age. The DA believed in my potential.”
McKenzie labels Jacobs ‘a lazy fellow’
McKenzie has already slammed Jacobs as a political opportunist who was never trusted by anyone within the PA.
According to McKenzie, Jacobs was a lazy fellow who was not cut out for how the PA is structured, where everyone gets their hands dirty despite their rank in the leadership pecking order.
“I said let him go to parliament because the ground is not for him,” said McKenzie.
“Liam (Jacobs) never worked the ground with us. So we could see that this one is on his way out. He never understood PA, we not an upper-middle-class party, we are on the ground. We tried moving him around.”
Jacobs apologises to DA voters
Jacobs has tendered his apology to the DA voters, leadership, public reps, activists, and staff for “causing harm to the party, leaving in such a distasteful manner.”
He also admits to having been ungrateful to the DA when he was all gung-ho for the PA when he switched to McKenzie’s forces.
If Jacobs is to be believed, he claims to have had time for self-reflection on what he wants to be his contribution in society through his melodramatic political life.
And apparently, this moment of reflection has directed him back to the DA.
“When Gayton McKenzie offered me a return to Parliament, my values could not allow me to return as a PA MP.
“I could not, in good conscience, serve the people of South Africa while being in the vehicle of the Patriotic Alliance (PA).”
‘PA sold out to ANC’
Opportunistically, Jacobs then accuses the PA of selling out to the ANC, forgetting that the same DA he is joining is also in bed with the ANC in the GNU.
“The DA, however, is unafraid to hold the ANC accountable. It speaks out openly when it disagrees and uses its role in the GNU to apply pressure. It takes to the streets and the courts to stand for what is right. Just as it stopped the VAT hike, when the DA wins, the people win,” is his defense on how DA alliance with ANC is different to that of PA.
Jacobs also claims the final straw was the PA’s leadership instruction of its members to defend controversial MP Fadiel Adams following his criminal charge recently.
“In the PA, we were instructed to defend Mr Fadiel Adams, saying that he was arrested because he was coloured. This is false; the allegations against Adams are his own, and he must answer for his actions.”
Jacobs continues that he would not stand being in a political formation that he deems “xenophobic”, with PA notoriously known for being anti-undocumented immigrants.
‘McKenzie a dictator’
In his view, McKenzie was a dictator and supreme leader of the PA who made all the decisions, and everyone else is expected to fall into line.
He also claims that McKenzie has been practicing “cadre deployment” since his appointment as minister of sport, recreation, arts, and culture.
“The PA strives to be what the ANC is: a buddy-buddy system. Decisions in the PA are made by one man. No one is elected. There is no democracy and everything is centralised.
“The DA, however, rejects cadre deployment because it undermines merit-based hiring and weakens state institutions by prioritizing personal loyalty over competence and commitment to the republic.”
- Liam Jacobs has rejoined the Democratic Alliance (DA) after leaving the party last year to join Gayton McKenzie's Patriotic Alliance (PA), admitting he was misled by PA promises and regrets his departure from the DA.
- Jacobs apologized to DA voters and leadership for his disrespectful exit and the harm caused by his criticism of the party on social media.
- He accuses the PA of selling out to the ANC, defending controversial MP Fadiel Adams unjustifiably, and being xenophobic, which conflicted with his values.
- Jacobs describes McKenzie as a dictatorial leader who practices cadre deployment and centralizes decision-making, in contrast to the DA's merit-based and democratic approach.
- Gayton McKenzie criticizes Jacobs as lazy and untrustworthy, stating Jacobs never worked on the ground and was not suited to the PA's grassroots structure.
