The Democratic Alliance called a press conference on Tuesday morning to announce a development of “national importance.” That development sees Zille, Ramphele and De Lille working together under one roof, as the Democratic Alliance forms a “joint technical committee” with Ramphele’s Agang party, which was formed in 2013. Ramphele will stand as the DA presidential candidate in the 2014 General Elections.

Helen Zille, the leader of the Democratic Alliance said:

Mamphela Ramphele, the erstwhile leader of Agang said that she was honoured to accept the DA’s invitation.

Mamphela is rumoured to have spurned an offer from Zille for a leadership position within the DA in August 2012, choosing instead to launch Agang in February 2013. During the negotiations in August 2012, Ramphele said she would “not be the Dlamini family who was coming to stay with the Zille family,” and that she would “never be co-opted into the DA.”

Agang has since gone bankrupt, meaning that this merger is likely a last ditch effort by Ramphele to remain politically relevant.
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