Claudelle Chetty-Naidoo, Renesha Jugmohan, Nalene Naidoo-Atwaru - all from the Msunduzi Local Municipality - joined Sizwe Mchunu in jumping ship.

DURBAN - With less than 60 days to go until the general elections, the longest-serving black Democratic Alliance (DA) member Sizwe Mchunu has defected to the African National Congress (ANC) in KwaZulu-Natal along with four others.

The announcement was made by the ANC’s Durban headquarters on Wednesday, where four members from the official opposition and the National Freedom Party (NFP) announced their new membership with the governing party.

Mchunu served on some of the DA’s highest decision making structures for more than ten years, while his colleagues Claudelle Chetty-Naidoo, Renesha Jugmohan, Nalene Naidoo-Atwaru - all from the Msunduzi Local Municipality - joined him.

At the same time, former NFP deputy chair and councillor in the uMhlathuze Local Municipality Njabulo Mlaba also defected to the ANC.

The ANC in the province said this showed that it was the only party which South Africans accept to build a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous society.

DA KZN premier candidate Zwakele Mncwango has been unavailable for comment.

(Edited by Thapelo Lekabe)