ANC riddled with racism – Duarte

CONTENTION: ‘NON-AFRICANS STILL MARGINALISED’

Some of its leading members pre-judge certain racial groups.

ANC official says coloured people tend to be excluded for service delivery.

ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte says racism is still embedded within the ANC because some of its leading members still continue to pre-judge certain racial groups believing they benefited from the apartheid past.

“The marginalisation of non-Africans is a challenge in the ANC,” she said.

Duarte said coloured people, for instance, tended to be marginalised for service delivery because there was a belief that they benefited from the apartheid policies. She said one of the ANC comrades once boldly said coloured people had been eating for a long time under apartheid, now is the time for black Africans to eat.

“We cannot deny that the Africans are the majority, but there is a deliberate move to exclude people who are black but non-African within the ANC,” she said.

“There was a lot of racism emanating from the Coloureds against Africans but there was also a reverse racism against coloured people.”

She criticised the practice by coloured people to continue to encourage their children to speak only Afrikaans and English but not teach them African languages.

She attributed the recent court decision that independent candidates be allowed to contest the national election to the ANC’s failure to address non-racialism.

“This could have been avoided if we integrated our people.”

She said racism was a potent political weapon used by the apartheid authorities to marginalise blacks and to prop up whites.

Duarte, who addressed the Umrabula Dialogue organised by the Oliver Tambo School of Leadership yesterday, said it was unfortunate that the ANC structures were not racially mixed anymore. She said the ANC had become more like the PAC, which had blacks only in its leadership.

Her view was echoed by ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina, who said the ANC and its alliance structures did not reflect non-racialism despite the constitution being clear on non-racialism.

“Non-racialism is not anti- or pro certain groups but about building our nation,” said Duarte.

“There is no scientific proof that you are born being a racist but you are schooled into racism as you grow.”

She also defended Finance Minister Tito Mboweni for his regular comments on policy issue, saying: “I would not like to see a minister of finance who does not question an expenditure that was not useful expenditure… and keeps quiet when people send money back to the National Treasury because they didn’t meet their obligations and deliver services.”

On land expropriation, Duarte said the ANC had allowed the concept to be taken over by “a maverick group like the EFF”.