Former EFF MPs Kenny Motsamai and Patrick Sindane have jumped ship to join Gayton McKenzie’s Patriotic Alliance (PA).
They claim that they do not agree with the EFF’s open border policy, which enables freedom of movement between countries, mainly on the continent.
For this reason, the pair found the PA, which advocates for strict border controls and the deportation of undocumented foreigners, to be a better option.
Motsamai said he called the PA co-founder Kenny Kunene and offered to join the party. He said he was not forced or lured to join the organisation.
Former military commander
“My term is over with the EFF. I joined the Patriotic Alliance because the constitution of the organisation talks about land,” said Motsamai.
“We want people who are undocumented to return where they belong and give us peace so that we can sort out our problems in South Africa.”
Motsamai was the commander of the Azanian People’s Liberation Army, the defunct military wing of the Pan African Congress of Azania.
He joined the EFF after the organisation fought for his release from imprisonment in 2018, after spending nearly 28 years in jail for the murder of a white traffic officer in Rustenburg in 1989.
He had just returned from military training in Ethiopia at the time of his arrest.
Charged with rape
Sindane, the former EFF national organiser, said South Africa would be better managed if undocumented foreigners went back to their countries of birth.
“I just believe that [I should] pursue my political career here because this organisation appeals to me and I agree with what it raises,” said Sindane.
“I want those who believe and understand to come back and join us.”
Sindane is currently facing a rape case at the Johannesburg magistrate’s court, which has been postponed to August for a trial date to be set.
The rape case dates back to December 2021 and was opened by a member of the EFF Student Command.
