Ses'khona People's Movement secretary Loyiso Nkohla's endorsement of the Democratic Alliance (DA) was a betrayal, the African National Congress (ANC) has said.

ANC Western Cape secretary Faiez Jacobs said Nkohla had sold out the cause of the poor.

"He betrayed our communities and his own struggling people. He masked the intention of the people’s genuine grievances for service delivery for his personal ambition and material benefit," he said.

Poo protester Nkohla was one of hundreds of people who were welcomed into the DA on Thursday by Cape Town mayoral candidate Patricia de Lille.

The ANC called on its people to disassociate themselves from Nkohla and the DA.

"What is so surprising is that Loyiso Nkohla is disgruntled with the ANC and its list process but goes to the party that has a history of entrenching white privilege and is inherently anti-poor. He is now in bed with the same party," Jacobs said.

He said the people would see right through the betrayal.

"The ANC wishes the DA good luck with the procurement of an expended activist. The DA will soon discover he is too much of a liability and get rid of him... The DA will speedily devour him just to spit his bones out!"

‘Devil’s alliance’

Ses'khona co-founder Andile Lili said at a press conference that he was shocked by Nkohla's move, but that it was his individual right. He put it down to the fallout from the ANC's controversial candidate list process.

''We are really warning all our members not to associate ourselves with this devil's alliance called the DA,'' he said.

In May, Ses'khona said it was withdrawing its support for the ANC because it had failed to provide land and jobs. The ANC retorted that it was not a jobs agency and because it was not in control of the land in the Western Cape, it did not have any land to give.

Nkohla said his backing of the DA was not about the ANC election list controversy, but about improving the lives of the poor.

“We are in politics. We are not in church.”