Truman Prince dumps PA, labels Gayton McKenzie ‘dictator and liar'

Controversial former Beaufort West mayor Truman Prince has resigned from the Patriotic Alliance (PA) and labelled its leader Gayton McKenzie a “professional liar”.

In a four-page statement announcing his resignation, Prince, who recently lost his position as Central Karoo District municipal manager after the high court nullified his appointment, spared no punches.

He accused McKenzie of stealing his political party’s votes. He alleged  McKenzie, the former mayor of the Central Karoo District municipality, “brought people from Johannesburg to occupy positions which belong to the citizenry of the Central Karoo”.

Prince said his party, Movement of the People, enjoyed significant support in the Central Karoo before 2021. He said McKenzie approached his party in a month before the last local government elections asked him and his supporters to join the PA.

“After negotiations with other leaders of the Movement of the People, we joined the Patriotic Alliance on ... condition (that) leaders of the Movement of the People would run Central Karoo and will have powers to act on their behalf,” the statement reads.

“Everything went well and the PA, under my leadership, established itself as a kingmaker ... in the whole of Central Karoo. Gayton visited my house constantly and we established a good relationship.”

But Prince said McKenzie’s attitude changed immediately after the elections.

“I was shocked at how his word is law and final,” the statement reads.

“We fought about it and I told him that’s not politics, it's dictatorship. He decided without consultation to remove the then mayor of Laingsburg to gain experience in local government. He was then seconded to the Central Karoo where he was elected as mayor.”

Prince said he declined McKenzie’s offer of the Beaufort West mayoral chain because they had they sold another candidate to the electorate during their campaign.

“I told him that I wanted to go back to my position, director of community services,” the statement reads. He said McKenzie put someone else in the position. 

Prince said the PA leader appointed his wife, Thershia Prince, as Beaufort West mayor. He said McKenzie later removed her and replaced her with someone from Johannesburg. Prince said he was offered the Central Karoo District municipal manager position but Western Cape local government MEC Anton Bredell challenged the appointment in the high court in Cape Town and he lost his job.

“There is just no way Gayton will be the president of this country. If it happens by mistake, God please defend us against this,” Prince said in the statement.

“This man is a professional liar. People used their own money to contest the elections and then immediately thereafter he put in his own people from Johannesburg. We will now with venom, vigour and aggression take our town back from the PA.”

Prince continued: “Before elections he sounded positive and promised everything. After the elections, he changed into a dictator of note. He pretended (that) he fought for the coloureds. We must be careful, he is a sweet talker. Bye Gayton, we will now fight to regain our town.”

PA spokesperson Steve Motale hit back. He said Price had expressed intentions to leave the party in May. Motale said the former mayor was never a member of the party’s national executive committee “though he appears to have thought he was. He occupied a senior position in the Western Cape leadership structure”.

“As the PA we recognise the contribution he made during his relatively short time with the party. He and many others assisted in working the ground among voters in the Central Karoo, where residents have now been able to see the PA difference most clearly for themselves,” said Motale.

“The love and support we have enjoyed, and continue to receive, tells us that the PA is now forever part of Beaufort West, the Karoo and Western Cape at large.

“The PA continues to grow rapidly throughout the country and our members and supporters can see for themselves that the pride they take in “being a PA” is because we are on a godly mission to heal, restore and grow our country for the sake of our children. We are not on a mission for the employment prospects or other benefits that Mr Prince and those like him appear to believe they are entitled to.”

Motale said Prince seemed to buy into and want to be part of the PA vision in the beginning. But he said “he is an individual known to struggle with organisational discipline and working within a greater structure. He has previously been embroiled in conflicts with other political parties when he was part of them.

“It would appear he is best suited to leading his own organisation, and not being part of a collective that is greater than any individual. His need for personal benefit is both obvious and shameless,’ Motale said.

“He has accused our president, Gayton McKenzie, of being a dictator, when it was so often he who wished to dictate his wishes and demands to the PA. He was operating under the illusion that he could join the PA and turn it into Truman Prince’s PA instead of Truman Prince discovering what it truly means to be a member of the PA, which is always about personal sacrifice, hard work and putting others first.

“We shall choose to remember the positive contributions he made instead of dwelling on the many regrettable instances that so often seem to crop up when working with Mr Truman Prince.”

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