Is that a bullet in my foot?
2011-04-08 15:00
Simon Williamson
Of all the parties who have tried to take on the ANC, the DA is the only one to make a real impression, having snatched the city of Cape Town in 2006 before taking the entire Western Cape in 2009. While it may only boast a piddly 16.7% of the national electorate, it has made considerable ground in almost every other fashion and will vociferously contest other major metros in South Africa, including Port Elizabeth, Pretoria and Johannesburg, on 18 May.
The DA has done this through a process of identifying ANC service delivery failures, as well as an attempt to rebrand the party from apartheid’s leftovers to a new progressive, multi-racial South African force. A force in which elderly women dance, those who once wished a bullet per farmer are welcomed and the facts of what the DA provides are put at the front of its message.
However, there are always those who wish to wrench the party, in Malema-esque fashion, back to the image of which it is trying to rid itself. In this case, it is the Free State DA leader, Mr Roy Jankielsohn, who said in a speech in the Free State Legislature “During the liberation struggle, the ANC spent more time necklacing young people in townships and torturing, murdering and raping its own cadres at camps in Angola and Tanzania, than fighting the apartheid regime.”
Well ain’t that a breath of stale air? Just when the newest dancing, singing, amandla-ing party begins to throw off its perceived shackles of bigotry, it’s drop kicked through the opposition’s posts and we’re left asking the same question: is the DA really a viable alternative to the ANC? Or does it continue to appeal to those who were happier pre-1994, in this instance by pissing all over the lead player of one of the greatest liberation movements the world has ever seen?
An apology might be viable
In fact, if the ANC – which Helen Zille supported during the struggle – hadn't fought the disgusting policies of South Africa’s former political system, the DA would still be competing for its one seat in Parliament under the successors of Vorster and de Klerk. And does Mr Jankielsohn think that Mrs Helen Zille was complicit in necklacing youths during the fight against apartheid?
Usually, when one utters such gunk in public, particularly at a time when votes are fairly important, a retraction or an apology might be viable lest one hacks off a bunch of new voters. Or, you know, the people that fought for freedom in South Africa, which includes the national leader of the party banner under which Mr Jankielsohn was speaking. But no, the only response I received when I queried this initially was from Ryan Coetzee, the DA strategist and advisor to the Premier of the Western Cape. He said to me on twitter: “We have already spoken to him [Jankielsohn] and said that it's wrong, which he accepts.”
That’s great. I am glad to know that the central and strategic brains of the party don’t subscribe to this kind of codswallop, but the party leader in one of the provinces is an influential person, and was representing the DA in the legislature when he said the aforementioned quote. By my estimation, that means the DA said it.
'Evil always prevails'
I contacted DA officials to ask if they were going to retract any or part of Mr Roy Jankielsohn’s statement. I was referred to the speech-maker himself who replied: “There are many good men and women in the ANC, but evil always prevails because good men and women keep quiet. We must acknowledge, and be honest about, our recent history in South Africa. This is the only way that we can build a better future.”
While his statement may be correct in its essence, it means nothing in the context of what he said. The only thing against this statement from the party is two tweets (unofficial communication, I would assume) from Ryan Coetzee - who is followed by 653 people (at the time of writing) - not exactly broadcasting the DA's stance on Mr Jankielsohn's words.
I find that any kind of reconciliatory message in his response to me is deafened by him standing by his words that the ANC did nothing but necklace youths.
So can I assume that the party is OK with having this quote ascribed to it?
Full text of speech.
- Simon Williamson is a freelance writer.
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