Democratic Alliance (DA) Member of Parliament and former shadow Minister of Communications, Phumzile van Damme, has quit the party.
She is yet another prominent black leader to leave the DA following protracted battles.
Earlier in May, Van Damme said that she was in a legal battle with the DA, with some members intent on punishing her for punching a man in self-defence after he threatened violence during an altercation with a family at the V&A Waterfront in June 2018.
She said that she’d endured psychological abuse at the hands of those people and had undergone hours of therapy.
For three year a blatant lie has been repeatedly perpetuated that I beat up a kid at the V&A. I kept quiet and endured the added trauma of being portrayed as a violent brute who beats up children. This look like a child to you? pic.twitter.com/mnk4l77yvC
— Phumzile Van Damme (@zilevandamme) May 9, 2021
And in December 2020, Van Damme was forced by the DA to go on sabbatical for three months for what it said was her debilitating illness, but she insisted that her ill-health had not prevented her from doing her work and that she would challenge the decision.
I have been informed by the Federal Leader of the DA @jsteenhuisen that he is granting me a sabbatical. I didn’t request it. He merely informed me. I could walk away, but I choose to stay, and challenge it ON PRINCIPLE.
— Phumzile Van Damme (@zilevandamme) December 4, 2020
But she later appeared to have changed her mind, saying she would ‘abide by this instruction’ and would communicate with the party through her lawyers in 2021.
The DA has continued to shed black leaders over recent years over internal conflicts, which have also reflected on the party’s performance at the polls, even in this week’s by-elections.
After dropping several hints on Twitter on Thursday afternoon, it was confirmed that Van Damme was no longer a member of the DA nor its representative in Parliament.
Van Damme, who joined the DA in 2009, was elected to Parliament in 2014.
She served the party in numerous roles, including as shadow Minister of Communications and as a spokesperson.
The party’s Siviwe Gwarube: “We commend her work over the past several years. From taking on Bell Pottinger, fighting for an independent SABC and her tenure as a spokesperson, Phumzile demonstrated her talent as a political communicator and a parliamentarian.”
Van Damme, in her own tweets on Thursday, said that she would not be seeking to join any political party.