The ANC Women’s League is astounded by the recent announcement by the Democratic Alliance (DA) to nominate Helen Zille as the Mayoral candidate for the City of Johannesburg in next year’s local government elections.
The City of Johannesburg is not only the economic hub of the country but is also a cosmopolitan metropolis of the African continent, where people from everywhere in the continent and elsewhere, converge for better economic opportunities.
The absolute leader of the Democratic Alliance, Helen Zille in 2012, whilst serving as Premier of the Western Cape, referred to the people of Eastern Cape who relocated to the Western Cape as refugees, and demanded their immediate deportation.
These utterances not only undermined the compass of our constitutional democracy but confirmed the DA policy of exclusionism which is characterised by prejudice and collective hatred for Black people.
The deep-seated idiocy in her statement on Eastern Cape refugees was owing to the fact that Helen Zille herself was born in Johannesburg with both her parents of German descent but still had the impudence to refer to indigenous people with such resentment.
In her nomination acceptance speech, Helen Zille promised the citizens of Johannesburg, “better delivery of water, electricity, road repair and refuse services”, which is in stark contrast to her legacy of disservice in the vast majority of African and Coloured townships in the City of Cape Town.
Helen Zille’s self-proclaimed clean governance during her tenure as Mayor of Cape Town is in full display as one drives along the N7 in the densely populated poverty-stricken Du Noon near Killarney, her legacy project in Blikkiesdorp in Delft, where temporary structures have been turned into permanent residence since 2007.
The only proven track record to be attributed to the DA is its inherent disregard for transformation, and their political conviction remains that of the protection of White privilege and supremacy.
The DA and its Johannesburg Mayoral candidate are disingenuous in their promise for service delivery, and the only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy.