Durban - The Democratic Alliance’s provincial chairman in Kwa-Zulu-Natal, Haniff Hoosen, reacted angrily to claims made by former uMsunduzi councillor Lungisani Sikhakhane that the DA “only needs black people for votes, and to do dirty work and hard work”.
In a letter addressed to Hoosen, Sikhakhane, who has been a DA councillor for five years said: “I have come to learn… the DA only needs black people for votes, do dirty work and hard work, while whites and Indians are protected and treated like kings or queens.”
Sikhakhane alleged allocation of resources was “skewed” in favour of whites, a claim that was rejected by Hoosen, who said “that’s absolute nonsense”.
Hoosen, who is also the party’s mayoral candidate for eThekwini said: “It’s just unfortunate the manner in which he dealt with this issue.”
Hoosen said Sikhakhane was not retained as councillor because he had underperformed.
“We expect a high performance from our councillors because we don’t want to give people councillors that are not performing,” he said.
But Sikhakhane argues in the letter they underperformed because each “black councillor” had an average of 10 wards to look after, while their white and Indian counterparts had not more than two wards.
Sikhakhane said the DA’s candidate selection processes were driven by “race superiority and political favours” and ended his letter by saying: “Under your leadership, those that are black as me will always be voting tokens and inferior in the DA.”
He resigned with immediate effect and joined the ANC.
Hoosen said Sikhakhane’s claims and departure would not impact the party ahead of the August 3 elections.
“I wish him well, since he has made a democratic decision.”
Provincial party leader Zwakele Mncwango hit back at Sikhakhane, saying it was “nonsensical” that he raised these issues when he had been red-flagged by the party.
“He fails to perform and then he blames the party,” he said.
Mncwango said Sikhakhane was bitter, but he added that when people resigned and said bad things about the organisation, he could not sit back and fold his arms.
“Sometimes, we as leaders need to do introspection when such issues arise but I’m not saying that what he said is true,” he said.
Sunday Tribune