EFF MP roasts DA councillor for ‘racist’ ‘Khayelitsha by the sea’ comment

EFF MP Nazier Paulsen has taken to Twitter to make fun of DA councillor Joy McCarthy, who allegedly objected to social housing projects in Cape Town’s upmarket area Table View, saying they would turn the area into “Khayelitsha by the sea”.

An article by Cape Times journalist Dominic Adriaanse noted the backlash McCarthy faced after she was accused of racism for the comment. The biggest problem with what she said? Khayelitsha is “by the sea” already, and boasts its own beach, Monwabisi beach.

Paulsen tweeted a picture of the column along with the caption: “You can’t make this up. This [DA] councillor in Table View doesn’t want social housing in her area because it will ‘turn the area into a Khayelitsha by the sea’. She doesn’t even know that Khayelitsha is along the sea.”

Former city employee Mark Rountree – who has since joined Patricia De Lille’s new party Good – lodged a complaint after McCarthy’s alleged comment was made while the two were talking on the phone last year.

The complaint is “still under investigation by the city”, Rountree said he was told.

He said McCarthy was “infamous” for espousing views similar to the comments he reported her for.

https://twitter.com/NazierPaulsen/status/1116008762404425734

Whether by-the-sea or landlocked, Khayelitsha is currently undergoing violent protests as part of a total shutdown of the township planned by residents, who are reportedly unhappy over high water bills.

Residents claim that as well as the high bills, some houses have no running water altogether.

An organisation called the Water Crisis and High Bills group – chaired by a preacher from a local Methodist church, Bishop Derrick – is allegedly behind the protests, which began at 3am at the church.

READ MORE: Chaos as protests erupt all over South Africa

Roads have been barricaded with burning tyres, rocks and rubble since early on Thursday morning.

The DA, which runs the Western Cape, has reacted to the protests similarly to ones that have been ongoing since last week in Johannesburg, Gauteng’s Alexandra township, which they say they believe have been “orchestrated” by the ANC.

The party’s official Twitter account wrote this morning: “The Tshwane, Alex, and Khayelitsha violent protests are a clear indication that the ANC is prepared to burn the country to the ground as they are on the verge of losing more provinces in the coming elections.”

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