Hammanskraal - Racists have no place in the Democratic Alliance structures, party leader Mmusi Maimane said on Monday.
“I don’t care whether you are white or black, but if you are racist the DA is not your place,” Maimane told supporters at the launch of the party’s #FairSA campaign in Ramotse village in Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria.
“You must go somewhere else. Maybe you should start wearing the beret. If you are racist, you must go there. Here we are not a party for racists,” he said in an apparent reference to the Economic Freedom Fighters whose uniform includes a red beret.
The DA has previously been accused of habouring racists by other political parties, notably by the ruling African National Congress.
On the racially-charged unrest witnessed in South African universities, Maimane said students had been neglected by Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande.
“You know why the students are fighting? It is because Blade Nzimande has forgotten them. Blade forgot that he must increase NSFAS (National Student Financial Aid Scheme) funds so that the children can go to school. So we must fight for an increase in funding,” said Maimane to loud cheers.
“While we fight for an increase in funding, we can’t burn the universities. We must stand together and say ‘South Africa is for all of us’. Universities belong to all who can get access to them – black or white. I’m here to say, whatever language you speak, we will protect it.”
He said “beating up others” at university was not in line with building a fair South Africa.
Maimane later told reporters that problems in the country’s universities were linked to the shortfall at the NSFAS.
“It (NSFAS) has failed to keep up with the demand, while we have a cabinet that spends R4 billion every year just on security alone. We should have done the proactive thing and increased NSFAS progressively,” he said.
“President (Jacob) Zuma announced a cap in the (university fee) increases but he has failed to lead the process beyond that and so has Blade Nzimande. Instability at the universities must be put at the door of the ministry of higher education.”
He said incidents of racism at universities must be strongly condemned.
The DA said its #FairSA campaign provides the party’s vision for what a “fair South Africa” would be under a DA government.
African News Agency