Cape Town - The ANC has challenged Western Cape Premier Helen Zille and the DA-run provincial government to come clean on a controversial poster in the provincial Department of Transport and Public Works.
The “knowledge management” poster, depicting a white man transferring his knowledge via a pump into the head of a black man, was removed after staff had complained.
The ANC also exposed the “racially fuelled” poster during a sitting of the provincial legislature last week.
ANC provincial chairman Marius Fransman said: “The ANC calls on the premier and her administration to come clean on what exactly happened and what steps were taken against those found to be the culprits. So far, fuzzy stories were told, weak excuses made and an unbelievable narrative spread that tries to exonerate senior decision-makers. The DA must take responsibility and be seen to weed out such incidents.”
Transport and Public Works MEC Donald Grant ordered the internally distributed poster to be removed. DA provincial media manager Liza Albrecht said the party had nothing to do with the posters.
“There is a clear and significant division between party and state – the party being the DA and the state being the Western Cape government. The DA will have no say in any decisions about any department’s marketing or other material,” Albrecht said.
Zille’s spokesperson, Michael Mpofu, said the response by the Department of Transport and Public Works was their official comment on the matter.
The Transport Department spokesperson, Siphesihle Dube, said the poster was for internal use and not a “DA knowledge management poster”.
“It was immediately removed when brought to the attention of the department and a full and sincere apology given to the complainant This was graciously accepted in writing. Steps have been put in place to ensure that such a thing cannot happen again,” he said.
The steps included tighter controls on sign-off processes for produced materials to ensure not only quality control, but also approval by the department’s senior management
Cape Times