News24 | Elections 2026: PA’s McKenzie brings reinforcements to Cape Town, bans media interactions

PA leader Gayton McKenzie has banned local media from interacting with party members and attending events, claiming they were biased in favour of the PA’s bitter rival, the DA.

Gallo Images/Sharon Seretlo

• Gayton McKenzie has deployed key members to Cape Town and the Cape Winelands to reinforce the PA’s support ahead of the 4 November polls.
• McKenzie has also banned local media from conducting interviews with the party and attending events.
• McKenzie claimed the media was “biased” against the party in favour of the DA, its bitter rival.
• For more political news, visit News24 Politics.

With less than 20 days to go before the polls, PA leader Gayton McKenzie has made changes to his party’s electoral efforts, including bringing “reinforcements” to Cape Town and banning local media from interacting with the party.

“We’re bringing in reinforcements,” said PA leader Gayton McKenzie on Sunday night as he announced changes to the party’s elections campaign.

With less than 20 days to go before the 4 November polls, McKenzie announced the deployment of party secretary-general Chinelle Stevens to Cape Town, where the party is hoping to make an imprint larger than the 1.49% it made in the 2021 elections.

This is in addition to other deployments in the City, including its national chairperson, Marlon Daniels, working in the Western Cape, and veteran politician Grant Pascoe as a deployee to Mitchells Plain.

Further, McKenzie announced the deployment of the former Theewaterskloof mayor and president of its women’s alliance, Mary Liebenberg, as its deployee to work in the Cape Winelands region.

The pair will work to assist the party as the elections draw closer.

“In the last two weeks, ons maak toe (we close up)”, said McKenzie of the party’s campaign, urging party supporters to campaign.

McKenzie bans media from party officials and events

McKenzie also banned the media from attending party events or speaking to party supporters. This, he claimed, was due to the media’s bias against the party.

“No member of the Patriotic Alliance will give an interview to the media,” he proclaimed.

He claimed:

We don’t need them. South African media is decampaigning us.

In recent months, reports about PA members being linked to various boards in McKenzie’s departmental entities have raised questions about possible cadre deployment.

READ | Friends first: McKenzie deploys 19 PA-linked figures to arts and culture boards 

McKenzie told party supporters he would only give interviews in his government role as “this post belongs to the state”.

He said party mayoral candidates must not attend mayoral debates nor give interviews to the media. Only international media would be granted interviews.

He said:

We don’t need those people; they hate us. The PA wants nothing to do with the media.

Citing examples, McKenzie said the media did not report on the fact that the Western Cape government had returned R821 million to the National Treasury, meant for housing, after it went unspent.

However, in June, Cape Times reported that the province was under fire for underspending as political parties questioned the seriousness of the province to solve the housing backlog.

McKenzie also claimed that the media did not report on the Constitutional Court’s landmark ruling, which lambasted the DA-run Western Cape government for its failure to build affordable housing in the inner city of Cape Town.

READ | ConCourt declares sale of Tafelberg site in Cape Town unlawful

But this is a lie. The media, including this publication, did report on the ruling.

Housing and housing affordability have become a key election topic as many parties have put the blame for a lack of housing at the DA’s door.

“Even the polls are biased,” McKenzie proclaimed. He also questioned why in opinion polls, ActionSA and the FF Plus were ranked higher than the PA, despite neither party winning by-elections at the rate the PA has been.

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