KZN taxi boss joins ANC
2008-11-05 18:05
Durban - Eugene Hadebe, the boss of KwaZulu-Natal's largest taxi association announced on Wednesday that he would be disbanding the association's political party and joining the African National Congress.
Hadebe, whose KwaZulu-Natal Transport Alliance (KZNTA) has more than 17 000 members, announced at an ANC press conference that he and several members of the KwaZulu-Natal Transport Alliance political party were joining the ANC.
Hadebe also announced that he had resigned as treasurer of the South African Democratic Convention - a party formed by former Inkatha Freedom Party secretary-general Ziba Jiyane.
Jiyane left the IFP to form the National Democratic Convention [Nadeco] but then broke away again to form Sadeco in 2006.
Hadebe, who said he had been an ANC member up until four years ago, said: "The previous leadership (in the ANC) was oppressing the taxi leadership."
Hadebe said that the ANC had not "promised me something" to join the party and that the members of the 17 480 strong KZNTA were free to vote for the party of their choice.
The KZNTA had been registered as a political party last November and it would be disbanded without contesting the upcoming election.
Hadebe said that by joining the ANC he would also be able to better look out for the taxi industry's interests.
The ANC's eThekwini chairperson John Mchunu said Hadebe's migration to the party along with about 60 women from an IFP-controlled women's hostel indicated that the "abysmal backdrop of perceptions that the ANC is losing members to other political parties" was incorrect.
- SAPA