Article: New DA pamphlet angers ANC

[Vrotappel]

The whole "Stop Zuma" was a good example of this type of blunder by the DA...

And now we all know why zuma should have been stopped.

 

[Justin_Credible]

Yup, but the NNP left quickly when the DA refused to allow Meyer to push his conservative tendencies on Cape Town. Basically they were not liberal enough for the DA so left for a party more suited for them. The ANC.

If NP broke away then why is it still callled an alliance, why not revert back to DP?

 

[Mach III]

I fear for the country if there was no Democratic Alliance. I mean, imagine. We would all have tolls, Malema would still be around, Zuma would be making nkandla gate into nkandla stargate. He would've bought 5 x R2bn jets. Miners would've all been massacred. Farm workers would've killed their bosses and died of hunger... Anyway... Hey trolls! Yes you guys! there's a new pamphlet for you guys to get irritated about! Have a look.. Go get angry!

 

[w1z4rd]

If NP broke away then why is it still callled an alliance, why not revert back to DP?

There were 5 other smaller parties that combined. Not just the NNP.

 

[daveza]

Just out of interest, how would you all feel if the ANC used the same picture with a quote by Suzman about how wonderful Mandela is and a paragraph explaining that Suzman loved the ANC and an implication that all whites should feel quite at home in the ANC?

We would say, nonsense.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/05/16/1084646074852.html

The veteran human rights campaigner was disappointed by the African National Congress Government for which she had worked so hard to get into power. "I had hoped for something much better," said Mrs Suzman, 86.

"The poor in this country have not benefited at all from the ANC. This Government spends like a drunken sailor. Instead of investing in projects to give people jobs, they spend millions buying weapons and private jets, and sending gifts to Haiti."

In January 1996 Suzman's portrait was duly taken down by the ANC as part of a more generalised purge of "colonial and apartheid-era" relics in parliament.

Wonderful how the anc treats the 'whites' who played their part in the 'struggle'.

 

[Fulcrum29]

Is that like our Public Prosecutor?

A DA is the highest officeholder in the legal department of the jurisdiction. According to structure, the Public Protector of South Africa has the highest authority. In basic terms, very similar in authority as in terms of the constituted legal body, but I do not know the severity of the remedial actions allowed in regard with these two entities.

 

[w1z4rd]

Marthinus Christoffel Johannes van Schalkwyk (born 10 November 1959) is the Minister of Tourism in the Cabinet of South Africa.[1] Formerly both Premier of the Western Cape and Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of South Africa, he was the leader of the New National Party from its inception on 8 September 1997 until its dissolution on 9 April 2005. He was appointed Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism in the South African cabinet as a reward for aligning his party with the ruling African National Congress (ANC)

Exactly

 

[Sherbang]

You know she was a card carying member right?

Ward 90, JHB North

No, I'm not aware of that. Source?

 

[daveza]

Seems it's a long-term requirement for anc presidents to blame whiteys for all its problems.

Asked about her view that she believed Mbeki was anti-white, Suzman said where President Mbeki viewed things as going wrong "he says it is whites who did it". This had been reinforced by statements about white mining companies and a deputy minister accusing whites of looting South Africa.

 

[Fulcrum29]

Seems it's a long-term requirement for anc presidents to blame whiteys for all its problems.

When reading things like this I can only imagine the attitude back in the day when the “whiteys” colonised South Africa… I wish that I could have observed some of those white vs. black negotiations back in the day, I think it would have provided a clearer picture today. Oh well, history is written, nothing can change the past and in this case truth vs. manipulation… Every culture has a different story, continuing to this day…

 

[w1z4rd]

No, I'm not aware of that. Source?

I would just like to confirm that she was a DA member. I spoke to some DA leaders and they confirmed that she was a member of Ian Ollis`s branch in JHB until her death in 2009

Should you doubt anything I say, please phone Ian and ask him yourself: Ian may be contacted on [email protected] or 082 714 7572

So now what joelus? What form of denial next?

 

[OrbitalDawn]

ANC: Helen Suzman didn't act against apartheid

The DA has started its election campaign by trying to rebrand itself as a participant in the fight against apartheid. But the ANC is not buying it.

The party circulated flyers this week showing an embrace between Nelson Mandela and Helen Suzman as part of its campaign to fend off the idea that it would bring back apartheid if it were to govern nationally.

But the ANC is not taking the Democratic Alliance (DA)'s message lying down and questioned Suzman's struggle credentials. ANC spokesperson Keith Khoza said this week the DA did nothing to end apartheid and took a swipe at Suzman, saying she "enjoyed the comfort of apartheid Parliament" and "didn't take any action" against apartheid.

The DA's executive director of communications, Gavin Davis, said the party expected criticism from its opponents. He was also not concerned with the potential criticism that it was cheap using Mandela's image for political expediency.

"Politics is a contest over ideas so it [criticism about the campaign] doesn't worry us. We just want more people to know the untold story of our opposition to apartheid."

The campaign, called "Know Your DA", got off the ground with an event in Alexandra last weekend. The party is using door-to-door visits and community meetings, as well as social media, pamphlets and advertisements in newspapers to spread its message.

Wrong perceptions

Davis said the DA was informed by its activists on the ground, as well as by research it conducted, that a perception existed that it would bring back apartheid if it won a national election. It was a view that Khoza holds too.

"Apartheid is ingrained in their DNA and they cannot change. Look at their structures and how they govern. They have a couple of blacks as window dressing but the real power is still in the hands of white Afrikaners," Khoza said.

But Davis said its leaders had a history of fighting apartheid.

"The ANC have peddled misinformation about the DA and its role in fighting apartheid for so long that they cannot recognise the truth when they see it. Their criticism will not hurt our campaign because their version of the past does not stand up to historical scrutiny."

He said Suzman was a founder member of the Progressive Party and its lone member of Parliament for 13 years.

"She led our opposition against detention without trial, pass laws, influx control, job reservation on the grounds of colour, racially separated amenities such as libraries and swimming pools, the Unlawful Organisations Act, Group Areas [Act], and forced removals.

"Our current leader, Helen Zille, helped to show the world the truth about apartheid. In 1977, working as a reporter at the Rand Daily Mail, Zille exposed the truth behind Steve Biko's death. As a result of this, she was prosecuted and found guilty by the Apartheid Press Council. A prominent member of the Black Sash, Zille had to go into hiding as a result of concealing ANC activists at her home during the 1986 state of emergency," said Davis.

Activists

"Joe Seremane was the party's federal chairperson until 2010 and started his career as a school teacher, until he was barred from teaching due to his involvement in politics. He was a political prisoner on Robben Island from 1963 to 1969, before being banned by the apartheid government. He was further detained without trial from 1976 to 1978, and several times between 1982 and 1984.

"Wilmot James is currently the DA's federal chairperson, and his involvement in the struggle reaches back to his days in the South African Students Organisation, which was inspired by the Black Consciousness Movement. James's opposition to the Group Areas Act had him detained and imprisoned.

"Patricia de Lille, currently the executive mayor of Cape Town, has been active in politics for more than 25 years. In 1988 she was elected vice-president of the National Council of Trade Unions. She became an MP in 1994 after leading the [Pan Africanist Congress] delegation in the constitutional negotiations in Kempton Park."

He said the picture of Mandela and Suzman was chosen for the campaign because "Nelson Mandela recognised the role that Helen Suzman played in opposing apartheid and we wanted to convey that message".

The pamphlet carries a quote from Mandela about Suzman: "Your courage, integrity and principled commitment to justice have marked you as one of the outstanding figures in the history of public life in South Africa."

'Just talk'

But Khoza said Suzman's role in ending apartheid was just talk.

"It's known the DA didn't do anything to end apartheid. Even the Progressive Federal Party [evolved from the Progressive Party] might have occasionally made noises but they didn't actually do anything.

"Helen Suzman herself enjoyed the comfort of the apartheid Parliament and did raise valid concerns about the horrors of the apartheid government, but she didn't take any action."

Davis supplied the M&G with a letter, apparently written from former ANC president Chief Albert Luthuli to Suzman.

Luthuli wrote: "In moments of creeping frustration and tiredness, please pick courage and strength in the fact that thousands of South Africans, especially amongst the oppressed section, thank God for producing Helen, for her manly stand against injustice, regardless of the consequences."

Community involvement
Davis said: "Perhaps Mr Khoza needs to go and consult with his leaders, past and present, about what they thought of Suzman's opposition to apartheid and the sacrifices she made."

Davis added that the party was not trying to erase its former white male leaders from its history.

"This [criticism] is completely untrue. In Helen Zille's speech in Alexandra on Saturday for example, she paid tribute to the first leader of the Progressive Party, Jan Steytler. But this campaign is not an attempt to tell the entire history of the DA. It is specifically aimed at correcting the misconception that the DA was somehow responsible for apartheid when the opposite is true."

In particular, the DA wants to target young people with this campaign "who don't know the full story of the DA and its predecessor's opposition to apartheid".

Khoza also accused the DA of doing nothing to uplift black people in the Western Cape.

"The Western Cape is a prime example of how the DA is perpetuating the past," he added. "The big positions in local government go to white males and there is no upliftment of black people."

'Lie'

Davis said this was a "lie" and said 76% of the Western Cape's budget was spent in poor communities.

"That the ANC is willing to perpetuate this lie so brazenly underscores the need for the 'Know Your DA' campaign. We cannot let our opponents define us any longer.

"The truth is that, according to the national census released last year, more people in the Western Cape have access to basic services than any other province. We are turning education around in the poorest schools after 10 years of ANC mismanagement.

"The DA and its predecessors fought apartheid their whole lives. Why would we bring back a system that we have always been resolutely opposed to?"

Oh, Jackson.

 

[OrbitalDawn]

This is the best post in this thread.

And now that it turns out to be untrue, and that she was actually a member?

 

[STS]

I would just like to confirm that she was a DA member. I spoke to some DA leaders and they confirmed that she was a member of Ian Ollis`s branch in JHB until her death in 2009

Should you doubt anything I say, please phone Ian and ask him yourself: Ian may be contacted on [email protected] or 082 714 7572

So now what joelus? What form of denial next?

*sak, joelus and STS eat their words*
*chews slowly*

 

[2026]

I would just like to confirm that she was a DA member. I spoke to some DA leaders and they confirmed that she was a member of Ian Ollis`s branch in JHB until her death in 2009

Should you doubt anything I say, please phone Ian and ask him yourself: Ian may be contacted on [email protected] or 082 714 7572

So now what joelus? What form of denial next?

Someone actually went out and got the facts for themselves... I take my hat off to you sir.

 

[w1z4rd]

Well to be fair to joelus and you guys you did raise some questions that needed asking. So I asked them. Now we have more clarification. I needed it as much as you guys did.

Ive also gotta make sure the people I am involved with are keeping their story straight or its not a party for me to expend energy on.

 

[STS]

Someone actually went out and got the facts for themselves... I take my hat off to you sir.

that is why Ghoti is in the position he is in

 

[Sherbang]

Someone actually went out and got the facts for themselves... I take my hat off to you sir.

Yeah, thanks!

 

[Sherbang]

Mandela also praised Tony Leon on his contributions to the country when he resigned, and said that he admired him. the DA has just changed so many times over the years and absorbed so many different members that i feel like they're an opposition and nothing more to their voters, despite their incredible politicians and method of governance.

On another note, what do you all make of this:
http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politi...b/en/page71639?oid=369791&sn=Detail&pid=71639

Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille has been accused of a Stalinist-style airbrushing of her predecessor, Tony Leon, out of her party's history. The charge was made by political columnist Rhoda Kadalie after Zille delivered a speech at the launch of her party's campaign on Saturday "to tell the untold story of the DA" - which failed to mention Leon's name or any contribution he may have made.

Leon obviously doesn't fit the 'brand' they are advertising

 

[w1z4rd]

On another note, what do you all make of this:
http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politi...b/en/page71639?oid=369791&sn=Detail&pid=71639

Leon obviously doesn't fit the 'brand' they are advertising

At my last course, were were discussing ambassadorships that Zuma was handing out to friends as gifts for supporting him and when I asked, "Why was Tony Leon given an ambassadorial position in Argentina?" I was simply told, "Ask him". Dont know what to read into that.

Under Tony Leon the DA became a 1% party for a bit. Also, there are many many previous leaders of the DA that have not been mentioned. So I dont know why they are just stuck on Leon.

Tony Leon of course has a place in DA history, Im not not sure what his role was against Apartheid. Which is what they are currently discussing. He is certainly not airbrushed out. Just what relevance does he have on the specific topic of fighting Apartheid?

To say that the DA are practicing "Stalinist" tactics and airbrushing him out is more than a little childish to be honest. Thats a full on troll comment and should really be seen in the light of Godwins Law.