Perception that DA is the party of apartheid is false

TO AGREE with, or share, the view that PW Botha was honest and his regime provided better services to ordinary people of this country is deplorable and uncouth.

I can also agree that education, health and policing were effective but they were not that effective if the majority of this country were not benefiting from the provision of these services for the white minority only.

Most DA activists, including myself, find it arduous to campaign in most black areas as they still have unnecessary perceptions that the DA is a white party that will bring back apartheid in this country, and that they will forfeit their social grants as a result.

When utterances of this nature come up from our parliamentarians, especially white parliamentarians, it makes it more perilous, as this will open old wounds among the black electorate whose votes we seek to garner.

Dianne Kohler Barnard must be forgiven by all South Africans who now shudder as a result of this incident and, indeed, take it as a human error not intended to cause any harm.

Furthermore, the timing of this error on her Facebook page works against the DA’s campaign strategy as local government elections are just around the corner.

I hope that the ANC will not use this genuine error as a campaign tool or ammunition in its propaganda to the general public of this country.

I also want to appeal to the media platforms – especially print and social media – not to exacerbate issues or try to sell their newspapers by writing misleading headlines such as “DA want to bring back apartheid”.

This cannot happen in our lifetimes, and I want to emphasise that PW Botha was an epitome of evil on South African soil.