McKenzie crosses swords with DA over sewage in Central Karoo

Patriotic Alliance president and Central Karoo mayor Gayton McKenzie had to dig deep to come up with a Twitter segue this week after a raft of bad publicity. He picked xenophobia.

McKenzie endeared himself to bigots everywhere when he exclaimed he would not hesitate to turn off a foreigner’s oxygen to save a South African.

Then, he brushed off the criticism, tweeting: “Nelson Mandela and his comrades didn’t fight 4 South Africans 2 die in lines whilst waiting for healthcare, SA ladies giving birth at Raheema Moosa on the floor while foreigners are on beds, these leaders fought for land and free education, not for 350 you guys are giving people.”

Former Cabinet minister Derek Hanekom responded: “Is this what Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Ahmed Kathrada and many others spent so many years in jail for? Is this what Chris Hani and Ruth First died for? What would Albert Luthuli and Oliver Tambo have said? Turn off the oxygen? Is this us?”

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Action SA leader Herman Mashaba said: “We need to direct our anger and frustrations at the door of the ANC government for failing to implement our immigration laws, not vulnerable migrants.”

McKenzie’s xenophobic comments followed close enough to Limpopo health MEC Phophi Ramathuba’s accusations that foreigners are straining the healthcare system to earn him premium column centimetres.

Alleged financial irregularities

The rabble-rousing was also likely in response to the SA Communist Party that laid a complaint against McKenzie with the public protector earlier this week, for alleged financial irregularities at the Central Karoo municipality.

Then reports started to emerge about the shoddy workmanship and spillage difficulties that McKenzie’s lavatory project in Beaufort West has encountered.

McKenzie tweeted: “The indignity of using a bucket toilet in year 2022 stopped in the Central Karoo. My heart is full.”

But when the Daily Maverick ran a story about the dirty end of his project, McKenzie called it a “mouthpiece for the Democratic Alliance (DA)”.

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The DA’s Sharna Fernandez, whose oversight visit highlighted the issue, last month alleged that McKenzie flouted procurement rules and appointed sub-par contractors to construct a sewage pipeline.

– news@citizen.co.za