DA cannot claim Mandela
MANY people in the DA carried guns in defence of the ideals of the apartheid government. Now that they have been defeated, they now believe in the ideals of freedom of democracy, the ideals of Nelson Mandela.
What they are telling us is that it was totally unnecessary for us to have a struggle. While Mandela was in jail for 27 years and all this time, the people in the DA actually had the same ideals of the liberation struggle.
Those who served in the apartheid defence are quiet in the DA. It is their stooge, Mmusi Maimane, who knows nothing of the struggle against apartheid.
Did Maimane send a message of congratulations to Mandela when he became president of this country? Did Maimane send Mandela a speedy recovery card?
Did Maimane send a wreath when Mandela was buried?
When Mandela was alive, he never mentioned Maimane as a friend, but warned us about stooges. If you asked him who his friends were he would say: Walter Sisulu, Denis Goldberg, Govan Mbeki, Ahmed Kathrada, Raymond Mhlaba, Oliver Tambo, Elias Motsoaledi and Andrew Mlangeni.
If this DA believed in the ideals of Mandela, why did its members carry guns against black people in the SANDF? If this DA believed in the ideals of Mandela, why did Sam Pienaar allegedly take part in the Trojan horse incident?
Why does the DA tolerate people who put Mandela in jail and tried to kill his comrades? Why doesn’t it expel them?
The DA is violating its own policy of saying it supports Mandela’s vision, but keeps the defenders of apartheid within its ranks and promotes them.
It is not possible to add Mandela as its hero alongside people who were the architects of apartheid.
These were the people who put Mandela in jail, who killed Sizwe Kondile, who killed the Cradock four and who killed the Pebco three for promoting the ideals of Mandela.
The question is not about the policies and principles that it now espouses as it hopes to win an election. The question is about the origin, source or inspiration of those claims.
It cannot claim the long history of struggle and the ideals of Mandela that many of the DA members worked hard to defeat through death and detention. The current claim therefore is a serious and despicable distortion of our history and a desperate attempt to con the voters of this country.
On principle, on history and on its conduct, it cannot claim any part of Mandela’s struggle credentials and history.
This is an election strategy. Our people will once again show the might of a movement.
Beza Ntshona, coordinator, ANC regional task team, Nelson Mandela Bay