Mervyn Alexander Dirks is a South African politician who served as a Member of the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature from June 2023 until February 2024.
During his tenure in parliament, he was the ANC's chief whip in the Standing Committee on Public Accounts until his suspension in January 2022.
[2] Dirks began his political activism by participating in the Happy Valley rent boycotts.
[5] Ramaphosa said in a leaked audio recording that "Investigations will reveal that a lot of public money was used (to fund political campaigns)."
Dirks refused and on the same day, he wrote to the ANC's strategy group and demanded that they explain to him as to why he needs to withdraw his letter.
[9] On 13 December 2022, Dirks was one of five ANC MPs who defied the party whip to vote against the adoption on the Section 89 Panel report on whether sufficient evidence exists to show that President Cyril Ramaphosa committed a serious violation of the Constitution or law or committed a serious misconduct amid the 2020 Phala Phala Robbery.
[10] On 30 January 2023, it was reported that Dirks and fellow ANC MP Tshilidzi Munyai had resigned from the National Assembly amid an impending Cabinet reshuffle by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
[13] Dirks was expelled from the ANC on 25 February 2024 for aligning himself to former president Jacob Zuma's Umkhonto we Sizwe party which he subsequently joined.