DA blamed for Worcester ‘dompas’ system furore
ANC says town’s green card system a result of party’s inaction in dealing with racism in province
OPPOSITION parties in the Western Cape have hit back at the DAled provincial government, saying their attempts to champion an investigation into the socalled “dompas” system for workers in Worcester is nothing more than a cover-up for the growing occurrences of racial discrimination in the province.
A political furore erupted after it emerged this week that the Worcester SAPS and Community Policing Forum (CPF) introduced the green card identification document for workers, bearing their photographs and personal details following a proposal by the neighbourhood watches of certain suburbs in 2012.
The cards have to be carried when workers enter upmarket parts of the town.
But opposition parties in the legislature are pointing a finger at the provincial government, saying their failure to deal with racism in the province has led to the re-emergence of the old apartheid system.
Condemning the system, DA leader Ivan Meyer said the ANC should stop trying to shift the blame and take responsibility for their sphere of government. And he rejected the ANC’s accusation that the DA-led Breede Valley Municipality had anything to do with the system. “The project was sanctioned by the SAPS, an entity that operates independently of the Western Cape government and falls under the jurisdiction of the ANC national government.”
While staying clear of the political storm, Western Cape Police commissioner LieutenantGeneral Arno Lamoer said they had investigated the green card system and the practice had been stopped a while ago. “This was never an issue about police limiting the access of people. The system was initiated by the local Sector 4 Community Policing Forum.”
The ANC in the legislature said it was time that the DA woke up and smelled the reality of racism in the province.
“This is all as a result of the DA’s inaction in dealing with racism and its failure to take steps to address it. Premier Helen Zille should stop projecting her own party’s racism on to others and deal with the monster in its bosom,” ANC spokesman Cobus Grobler said.
The ACDP’s Ferlon Christians said Community Safety MEC Dan Plato must also take responsibility for what is happening in the CPFs in Worcester.
“MEC Plato wants answers from Western Cape police chief Arno Lamoer, but we are not sure who is to blame as yet. If it is the CPFs, the MEC has a more direct role to play in the matter,” Christians added.
The EFF’s Nazier Paulsen said the latest incident was tacit evidence of something that had existed in the province for a long time, where black people could not easily enter predominantly white communities. “I am not surprised about this occurrence, even in this very legislature, dominated by the DA, black people that disagree with the DA are made to feel unwelcome. And I am not surprised that black people are made to feel unwelcome and treated with suspicion in areas like Worcester.”
Asked who was to blame, Paulsen said the problem dated back to 1994 when the ANC failed to initiate dialogue about race and racism.
“Similarly this DA government also runs away from racism. The very mention of the word ‘race’ makes people uncomfortable; nobody wants to speak about race because they are too scared about the realities. This is the most racist thing that has ever reared its head in the Western Cape along with the incidents of assault on black women,” he added.
The SACP said the “vile” reintroduction of race control discrimination in Worcester added further evidence to a growing trend of workingclass repression in the province. “It is through the DA provincial administration that these backward adherents of racism have found their home.”