Liam Jacobs is addressing accusations that he is a “flip-flopper” after dumping the Patriotic Alliance after just a year and returning to the DA.

In a lengthy statement released on Tuesday, Jacobs admits that he should never have left the DA in the first place, saying PA leader Gayton McKenzie misled him.

“I believed Gayton. I believed the PA promises. I personally saw that I was misled by lies. I admit, I made a mistake.”

READ MORE: Mckenzie says PA expected Liam Jacobs’ exit

Jacobs says he left the DA in a manner that “disrespected the organisation that went to great lengths to invest in my development.”

“I followed it up with statements on social media that caused great harm to the very people who extended their trust and support to me. My departure was disgraceful. Despite this, I am deeply aware of what the DA has done for me.”

He says the DA took him in as a young activist from the Northern Cape, developed him in Gauteng, and seated him in the National Assembly at only twenty-three years of age. Jacobs says the DA believed in his potential.

“I wholeheartedly apologise to DA voters, leadership, public reps, activists and staff for causing harm to the party, leaving in such a distasteful manner and for the lack of gratitude I showed towards the DA. I do not expect forgiveness immediately. I understand that trust must be earned again, and I am committed to rebuilding it through my actions.”

Jacobs says that as he spent more time on the inside of the PA, the veil lifted, and what he saw “explicitly” contravened his values.

“I could not, in good conscience, serve the people of South Africa whilst being in the vehicle of the Patriotic Alliance.”

He says one of the reasons that made him decide to jump ship back to the DA is that he believes the PA has sold out its voters to the ANC, whereas the DA is not afraid to hold the ANC accountable.

He also says in the PA that members were instructed to defend NCC leader Fadiel Adams, based on the fact that he is coloured. He also claims the PA’s rhetoric is bordering on xenophobia, which has led to confrontational behaviour that he fears could incite further violence.

Furthermore, Jacobs says there are no governance structures within the PA, and that McKenzie alone makes the decisions.

“The PA operates in a space of anarchy. It disciplines via Facebook lives and social media. I thought the PA was the answer, but I realised it was not.”

Jacobs concludes that he returns to the DA not as a public representative, but as an activist, with his “conscience intact, committed to working hard every day to stop anyone else from making the same mistake.”