OPINION: Yes the DA is not a white party
The misconception that the DA is a white party is not true at all, but it clearly represents the interests of the white minority.
The truth is the majority of the membership in the DA is black. Why you may ask? It’s simply because of the blacks who have become disillusioned by the ANC, they simply forgot that they have the freedom to choose a political home, live where they can afford to live, afford the lifestyle they live or simply be the middle class that they are.
The majority is just fed up with the corruption in the ANC in the areas where they live, some were active ANC members and they were not successful and jumped ship.
In reality though, if one looks at the issues that the DA champions in municipalities, it is really issues that impact the minority. Let’s take an average DA ward councillor; they complain about potholes, street lights, billing, planning issues and meter reading.
Joburg is the most unequal city in the world, the gap between the rich and the poor is a massive one. People go to bed hungry, unemployment is rife, people begging and living in the streets are so many, especially in the DA suburban wards.
So many of our black people leave informal settlements and townships to go to the suburbs to work in the malls, restaurants, madams’ houses and businesses, and they rely on public transport to go to work, especially taxis and busses and trains.
You will never hear a concern from a DA councillor who raises a question or motion in a Council meeting to say what is the council doing about taxi ranks in their wards, they won’t submit a proposal for proper taxi ranks to be built in white areas, look at where taxis park in most suburbs, even at shopping centres there are no proper taxi ranks that have shelters or even toilets.
You will hardly hear that DA ward councillors are doing skills development programmes for the people living on the streets, using business, NGO’s and government departments in their wards to deal with poverty in the city.
Then you will find DA PR councillors allocated to ANC wards, they will never raise concerns around government programmes that are aimed at poverty alleviation, such as the City’s rebates policy, many of them haven’t read this policy, programmes aimed at feeding child-headed homes will never be something DA PR councillors will share with residents in areas where they are allocated, instead they always complain about what the ANC is not doing well or corruption.
The DA councillors and MP’s don’t have a developmental state mentality, they are destructive, always looking for negative stories.
Voters need to open their eyes and read between the lines when a DA politician opens their mouths or write something.
Views shared by Sipho Masigo do not necessarily reflect the views of the Southern Courier or Caxton Local Newspapers
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Interesting, yet very selective in view and biased article you are putting out there Mr. Masigo. Shall we take a moment and unpack some of the issues you’ve raised in your piece.
The first mistake you make is to think that all black people who are now in the DA are coming from the ANC, this is not true. The black majority supporting the DA is coming from all political spectrum, not necessarily the ANC. Some have previously never belonged to any political party.I see you’ve been well and quickly educated into the stereotypical thinking that all black people belong and should be loyal to the ANC, that kind of thinking will be the downfall of the ruling party.
You say people forgot that they have the freedom to choose a political home. No sir, they haven’t forgotten, they are actually exercising that very same right. I hope you are not about to imply that the ANC was the only party responsible for ensuring that there is the right to freedom of association.
Your piece not only contradicts itself, but also seeks to undermine the thinking capacity of people who have joined the DA. You rightly say that people are fed up with the corruption in the ruling party and the lack of service delivery, which then should mean that people can and should vote against the government if not satisfied with the deal they are getting.
I shall leave the issue of “jumping ship”due to unsuccessful bids to make it to higher office in political organization or in the legislative bodies. Looking at the number of people who left the DA just before elections, you should know that it happens all the time, in all organizations.
You were a DA public representative and was responsible for wards in Soweto. Can you say that in your caucus, you have raised any of the issues of taxis, RDP programmes, crime, township economic development etc? Have you, yourself ever put up a motion that addresses any of these issue Mchana?
I can tell you that we haven’t only concentrated on issues of potholes, street lights, billing and meter reading. We have championed issues of unemployment, we have spearheaded job-zones programmes which seem to now be a Programme of government with all the hubs coming up throughout the province. We have been pushing for the cutting of red-tape in registration of SMMEs. We have been pushing for the payment within 30 days by government, especially to small companies which are mainly owned by black people from the townships. We have been at the forefront asking for a better education of our people, which we see as a great stepping stone towards breaking the backbone of the Apartheid ugly legacy. We have been exposing corruption which deprives our people of what they deserve, I can give you countless examples of these. We were the ones to put a motion that says that all developers who want to put up new malls and shopping complexes should ensure that there’s taxi feeder point.
We have been the champions of breaking down of tenders so that more people can benefit instead of the connected few. We have worked with NGO across the country in addressing poverty. Please look at my status dated 13 August 2014.
We acknowledge programmes aimed at addressing problems of child-headed homes, SASSA programmes etc. What we raise, which you claim is complaining is the corruption in theses programmes. How many ghost beneficiaries are there in the system and how would you have known that there are these ghost beneficiaries had we not raised the problem?
Yes, it’s true that apartheid left a very bad town spatial plan in place, but can you say that your newly found political home has done enough to address this? No!!
The value of what you say is normally determined what information you have and what your objectives are when opening your mouth.
So lets correct this young man. There are no average DA councillors, they are all top notch.
You are obviously not aware of the many mentorship partnerships that are always running in the DA. We have prevented hundreds of millions of rands being flushed down the toilet by errant officials and cadre appointed tenderpreneurs. We have exposed frauds, crooks, thieves, inept and down right useless top appointees. You will find us in townships and disadvantaged areas visiting, talking and listening to the complaints from residents. Your ANC fat cat councillors are MIA 99.9% of the time.We regularly work at and clean taxi ranks where the operators give the community the middle finger,litter, pollute, invade and create chaos and anarchy with their illegal behaviour and total disrespect for the very people that support them. You obviously have also not understood or realised that the taxi rank facilities are for all people and the days of their and our taxis do not exist any longer.A pity you do not realise that. DA councillors submit petitions, motions, questions to the metro via council by the thousands unlike the ANC councillors who very rarely submit anything. Their main focus being on what is to eat and can we leave early. Here and there you will find one worthy of being called a councillor. You obviously also do not know of or understand the rights of freedom of speech and association. The people make informed choices, you are also not to bright at maths. The whites make up 4.5m of the 52m population, the peole of colour make up the rest. On the principle of majority vote wins, how would you suggest that the DA as a white party would have the numerical superiority to obtain the majority of votes unless it was a party for all races.Your article is blinkered, biased, devoid of fact and appears to have a tinge of bitterness.You have writing skills, use them, you have the right to your opinion, exercise it however make sure you do not become a rhetorical sensationalist.Most of our phones are on 24/7, most of us are contactable 24/7. Failure to find us only needs a visit to the Ekurhuleni website to check our profiles and contact details. By the way it was a DA ward councillor motion that forced the metro to place a link to the ward map where the councillors operate in on their profiles in order to assist the poor and illiterate people to track their councillor or establish in which ward they live.The ANC led metro did not consider that in over 20 years.I suggest that you go and work and live with a DA councillor for a month and then write your story again. Watch the press on developments in Ekurhuleni re its City Manager. The ANC led metro appears to have no standards, the current chief whip is out on bail after being arrested for alleged fraudulent activities at his previous place of employment, the City manager is being investigated by the Public Protector,the finance oversight chair is the main star in a carte blanche expose on apparent irregularities where two previous business partners committed suicide, he was the executor of their estates, one CFO, COO and several HOD’S have been suspended or fired in the past 24 months due to conduct unbecoming. Ekurhuleni was rated the most corupt metro in SA, this by no less than the office of the AG.So young man, try and get an objective view on matters, set your biases aside and be less judgemental when trying to get a point across.
Well mr Rundle, with due respect ive earned my stripes in politics, ive served the DA with flying colours for 10 yrs, build strong branches n constituency in the heart of the ANC in Soweto, have served in various leadership structures in the DA, so I know what im talking about.
I was part of the mentorship programs that have fallen flat, especially the last one for aspirant candidate, I mentored a young Afrikaans guy from Krugersdorp, a truly awesome guy, so I know how badly this program ended too, where some MP’s n MPL’s we scared to mentor people who were gunning for their jobs, so please have your facts straight!
Yes, the DA deserves stars for exposing corruption that officials n Gov was involved in, but the DA is silent on the Corruption that business is doing, such as price fixing, we heard about the bread fixing scandal few years ago, You were silent on The big Companies that inflated their prices when building huge infrustructure programs such as Soccer city and many others. You people are quick to point out tenderpreneurs, well mr Rundle has the DA spoken out towards companies that front black faces yet these executives have no say on the board? You have clearly not followed up on the Black Management forum (BMF) do you know how black executives are used in corporate SA? How they are paid way less than their white counterparts yet doing the same job and same qualifications? Do you know how long and hard it is for blacks to ascend to top jobs in coorporate SA? I dont think u know this…
Price Waterhouse Coopers released a report on Corruption in SA, mr Rundle its a problem SA has, we have a corrupt society. The profile of a corrupt person is a male, aged 35-45 with high qualifications, so its educated people that screw the poor the most, colour has nothing to do with it…u could also look at stats SA and see who the most educated people are in SA, and its a white male Sir…
The report goes into detail to talk about how these coorporations fix and inflate their prices when doing business with Gov, u may recall that when ANC took over most skilled whites where flushed out of Gov, many didnt want to even mentor young unskilled blacks who were deployed to Gov. So many of these whites in highly skilled industries such as engineering, townplanning etc, started their own businesses and did business with Gov, and guess what Sir, they charged Gov inflated prices, because they knew that those incharge were unskilled and not clued up. Did the DA raise these issues? No!
u say my maths is bad, let me correct you, I know my numbers, I read and im analytical…
Lets look at Ur party, Ur chairman James S, has been running this party like its his cabal from the WC, HZ is the same, I say this because I know this for a fact that those who fund the DA are mostly while males, the rich boys who own mega coorporations, their interest is to have their interests protected, rich people buy politicians, its not new sir, its been happening over decades. NHO is completely white, name one black person in a strategic position…I saw the organogram when they presented it to us in provincial leadership..
while the bottom is black, those who ultimately make decisions are white! Those who control the funds are white!
In joburg we called all 90 Cllrs with the Chief whip, 70% of them were unreachable, 65%didnt bother to return the calls, I doubt Ekhuruleni caucus did this survey sir, its just a kpi on ur PDMS, so please know your facts!
on the part of those who just eat, here is what is funny, Gov spends alot on food, for committee mtngs, council and caucus mtngs, has the DA said no please, we dont want any of the food, we will bring our own lunches, No! U enjoy the perks that Gov offers you, like flying business class on an 8hour flight, staying in 4-5 star hotels for strategic meetings, has the DA sa no to the perks? I know know hey..
Mr Rundle I say this again, I served the DA because I believed in them, but I learned the hard way, that you dont practice what you preach, I mean the DA is huge on Cadre deployment, u just name it differently, u call it Fit for purpose, which in most cases it suits white males, look at your representation in councils, province and parliament, look at WC MEC’s look at NHO.
2 years ago u introduced R2D2 do you know the princlple of this term, I doubt it, when introduced it was said all media releases will have this principle included in it, guess what, its not…ask any white public rep to explain this to you.
iam not bitter sir, I speak my mind, im a son of a domestic worker, grew up in the farms of princess, was beaten up and have been accused of theft by young Afrikaans white boys growing up, went to a multiracial school when there were few of us blacks, was a first black prefect and voted the best prefect, I was the champion in athletics and captain of the soccer and athletics team, why iam I telling u this, im a guy that leads, all I ever did to get to escape my poverty is fight using my mouth and intellect. So ur little words dont frighten or put me down…
I will speak against issues that put this country down, but I invite u to engage me in my future posts so that u dont seem like just a DA public rep trying to protect ur party…
Solly I have already engaged u on fb, but im sure the above speaks to your heart too, that u represent us well there and stop sucking up to white liberals just to get to the top..