Warwick Bruce Chapman

In response to the release of the DA’s Crooked Comrades Monitor, the ANC was quoted in the Mail and Guardian (“Tracking crooked comrades”, 8 October 2009) saying the DA was attempting to “tarnish the image” of the ANC. That comment made think that perhaps we also need to create a list of ANC Comrades with functioning deductive abilities.

I believe it is quite clear that one of our jobs as a political party is to show our opponents up when their actions and practice differ from their words and policies. This is an important component of the greater task of presenting our party as a capable alternative to that opponent. So, for example, when the ANC attempts to show the DA up by accusing us of being racist and then failing to back it up with facts, the DA, through the Crooked Comrades Monitor is not only accusing the ANC of accommodating criminality within its ranks but backing it up with facts.

In the same article, ANC spokesperson, Brian Sokutu said that the deployment of ANC comrades into public and private sector positions was not the business of the DA. Unfortunately on this point Mr Sokutu is wrong. The word public in reference to public sector jobs means appointments are everyone’s business since it is our money being spent, and unfortunately for the ANC, the DA is included in that “everyone”. The Crooked Comrades Monitor deals only with appointments in the public sector since President Zuma came to power on the back of promises to fight crime and corruption.

Were the ANC to attempt to build a similar list for the DA they would find that the Democratic Alliance has at the first hint of any suspicion of illegal activity, suspended membership of the person or terminated the relationship with the organisation involved pending full investigation.

The fact of the matter is that the ANC tolerates corruption and criminalism within its own ranks. How can a government stand up on a soap box and berate corruption as an evil of society, an enemy of the national democratic revolution and then at the same time allow this extent of complicity with corruption and criminalism to continue?

What South Africa needs is a clean, efficient and correctly resourced public service and representatives, and in order to feed the current climate of demand for service delivery, that should the single highest priority for the ruling party.

Dear Julius

In the ANC Youth League press release entitled, “ANC YL FULLY BEHIND SA’S GOLDEN GIRL—MOKGADI CASTER SEMENYA” (11 September), your organisation stated: “The ANC YL is [..] very concerned by the fact that all the media reports about Caster Semenya are generated in Australia, which is the most lucrative destination for South Africa’s racists and fascists, who refused to live under a black democratic government.”

Julius, the true enemies of South African unity are not the racists outside of South Africa but rather those who spread racial prejudice within the borders of our country.  Of course there is the stereotypical white racist, but then there are also people like yourself Julius.  The enemies of South African unity are people who spread words and ideas which are divisive.  In a relatively short period of time you have become a master at sowing seeds of racial conflict and disunity.

Everytime you or one of your Youth League colleagues cry wolf on the issue of race, waving that big red race card, you belittle and undermine the veracity of the fight against racism.  Racism does not exist one way only.  One of the biggest challenges in the fight against racism is to recognise that discrimination on the basis of colour is something that works both ways.

When you stand on your soapbox and tell the country that whites fled the “the black democratic government”, you are doing nothing more than fostering the entrenchment of racism.   We have a hard won democratic government which is supposed to be for all of South Africa’s people.

So Julius, if you truly are interested in uniting this country you need to start thinking before you speak.  Shooting from the lip as irresponsibly as you do does nothing to build confidence in the minds of those South Africans whose skills are being lured away from our country. It does nothing to build confidence in those potential foreign investors who can provide job soaking growth and investment in our economy.

Your vocal commitment to those poor South Africans you purport to represent is not backed up by your regular ill-considered public utterances.  I urge you to think before you speak. Use your platform to spread messages which promote unity and add constructively to the fight against racism.

Warwick Chapman, DA Councillor, eThekwini – ward18@ethekwini.org

Note:  This letter was published in the Daily News 3 September, 2009, especially for my Mum!

ANC Cllr Mthunzi Dlamini during yesterday’s sitting of the full eThekwini Council, berated er… someone, for a person’s title  of “Mr” (or “Umnumzane” as he explained in isiZulu during his tirade) being omitted in an agenda item.  He justified this by suggesting that it was omitted by whoever wrote it because the person in question, Mr Lucky Montana, the CEO of PRASA, was black and so not respected.  He said it was racist.

I noted that later on in the agenda, an item referred to a lease being renewed for a “Sotirios Spetsiotis”, who was also the unfortunate victim of the abovementioned disrespectful omission of title.  Cllr Dlamini did not, however, bring this dreaful injustice to our attention, so I felt it necessary to do so in this forum.

Thus, on behalf of the eThekwini Council, I would like to apologise to both Mr Montana and Mr Spetsiotis for this grand miscarriage of justice.

I would like all South Africans regardless of race to please be aware you should never again misspell someone’s name or omit their title for fear of having to claim asylum status in Canada.

Even if it was not so grossly out of taste, I’m not sure the literal meaning of “Scraping the barrel” can even be applied to this article in any way whatsoever!

UPDATE: The wording has been corrected:

Hi
Many thanks, I have changed this.
Best regards
Angela

______________________________________________
Angela Spencer, Acting E-Communications Manager
eThekwini Communications Department