Stop war here, not in Ukraine
EIGHTEEN months since allegedly taking over the reins of the DA from Mmusi Maimane, another puppet, John Steenhuisen, is all at sea. How else can we describe his attention-seeking stunt in Ukraine this week?
On the weekend, Steenhuisen announced that he had touched down in Lviv, a city in the western part of Ukraine, on a “fact-finding mission” in the war-ravaged country.
One can only imagine that his advisers in the DA told him that being in Ukraine while Russian missiles rained down on the country would “burnish” his ambitions of being considered a statesman.
The trip was also supposed to show up the ANC’s reluctance to condemn Russia’s invasion of a sovereign nation.
The thinking must have been that in the absence of the ANC’s leadership on the issue, the DA would fill the void. But here’s the problem: Steenhuisen’s visit to Ukraine has more to do with optics for the DA and its international funders than embarrassing the ANC government.
While we’re all aghast at the brutality of war, and the images flashing across our television screens, we have to admit that the problems of Ukraine, Russia and Nato are above the comprehension of Steenhuisen.
Social media commentators have rightly pointed out the hypocrisy of the DA leader, who has not set foot in parts of the Cape Flats that currently resemble a war zone as gangs compete violently for drug turf.
How was Steenhuisen going to pose for pictures with a block of flats in Hanover Park, built during apartheid, serving as a backdrop? Those block of flats are owned by the City of Cape Town, which has since 2006 been controlled by the DA; the party has run the Western Cape since it booted out the ANC administration in 2009.
But in almost 17 years of running Cape Town, the DA that Steenhuisen leads has shown absolutely no urgency in reversing apartheid’s legacy, bar a few cosmetic projects that don’t disrupt the status quo.
Someone should tell Steenhuisen that if he wants to be taken seriously, perhaps he should put in a call to the Cape Town mayor and the Western Cape premier about taking real steps to stop the war on their doorstep.