Zille says race used by ANC as licence to loot, as DA defends its non-racialism principle

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has defended its principle of non-racialism, saying its economic justice policy adopted on Sunday will address economic exclusion and inequalities in South Africa which were a result of apartheid.

On Monday, the DA’s head of policy Gwen Ngwenya, federal executive chair Helen Zille and the party’s national spokespersons Refiloe Nt’sekhe and Solly Malatsi gave feedback to the media on its policy conference at the weekend, unpacking the policies that were adopted.

Ngwenya said the party’s economic justice policy, which is informed by non-racialism, was a solution to the economic exclusion of the black majority following two decades of democratic rule.

She said the policy document recognises that apartheid used race to exclude black people from the economy and deals with why so many of them were still excluded though political freedom has been achieved, and how to address inequalities caused by apartheid but have not been addressed or are perpetuated by the current government.

She added that the policy addresses the material conditions of South Africans.

Zille said focusing on race could afford the likes of former president Jacob Zuma to say he was implementing Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment when his “network” allegedly unduly gained through contracts with the state, adding that race has been used by the ANC as a licence to loot.

Zille said it was important to use real indicators of economic exclusion and that the conference at the weekend was very much inclusive.

On allegations that she was behind the purging of black leaders from the party which saw Mmusi Maimane and Herman Mashaba leaving the DA, Zille dismissed the allegation and said she had not taken part in such.

Meanwhile, Nt’sekhe said it was the DA’s code of conduct that candidates contesting internal elections should disclose the funders who backed their campaigns.

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