CAPE TOWN - DA Deputy Deputy Chief Whip in the City Errol Anstey has maintained that there was nothing wrong with his ‘racist’ remarks to fellow councillor and senior party member Tandeka Gqada that “her food was in the Eastern Cape”.
In an emotional letter, Gqada detailed the pain of being humiliated during a caucus session lunch break last week.
“Anstey responded that my food is not here, it is in the Eastern Cape, I must go to the Eastern Cape because my food is there. I was shocked with his response and I said to him to be careful because this statement can be blown out of proportion.
“I decided to approach Errol. I said to him I did not like what he said to me that my food is in the Eastern Cape. He said he was just joking.
“I left and indeed I did not eat because I was fuming that Errol does not seem to get my point and that I did not appreciate his joke. He was still loud and defensive,” Gqada wrote.
She said the party’s Chief Whip and Speaker tried to calm her down, and called for an open caucus discussion on the matter.
Some of the councillors sympathising with Gqada reacted with shock, describing the incident as being racist.
“As I said to you yesterday when you approached me, I am sorry you went through this. This is not insensitivity, this is racism and it must stop. This matter must be addressed and debated in full caucus urgently. We have all signed a pledge against racism. The only people unwelcome in our caucus and the DA are racists,” said one councillor in response to Gqada’s letter.
But Anstey on Thursday said the remark was taken out of context and the matter has since been resolved.
“The matter was resolved on Saturday and I didn’t say as it is reported. It was a humorous pun in context of a discussion that took place with her before. Certainly not racist,” he said.
Approached for comment, Gqada, a qualified lawyer, referred questions to DA Chief Whip Desiree Visagie.
Visagie said: “The matter between councillors Anstey and Tandeka has been dealt with by myself as per our Internal Caucus Rules. They are both experienced councillors and gave their full cooperation for the matter to be discussed, thus it has now been resolved between the two of them.
“I cannot discuss the details thereof, it is an internal matter. But I can assure you that both councillors were equally actively involved in the process and there was no need afterwards to take any further action or steps, and as the Chief Whip, if there was any breach of our caucus rules the necessary disciplined process would have been implemented,” Visagie said.
Political analyst Professor Sipho Seepe said the saga reveals that the DA has not dealt with the issue of race and white privilege.
“Part of the reason stems from the fact that some of its leaders have not experienced the kind of discrimination that black people have and are going through. The second issue is for black to buy into the notion of equal treatment as preached by the party. If truth be told black members are virtually invited to participate in structures which did not include them at the moment of their conception. Third, it is the white arrogance which often makes racist jokes and expect to be easily forgiven because they have said they are sorry. For some of them, it is just a game,” said Seepe.
But DA provincial chairperson, Jaco Londt said the DA was “the most diverse party and is unapologetic in its aim to bring all South Africans together instead of driving wedges like other parties and ill -informed commentators”.
Director at School of Public Leadership at Stellenbosch University, Professor Zwelinzima Ndevu said the issue of people allegedly coming from other provinces to overburden the limited resources in another province, is something that brings a lot of memories of the past.
“Whether it is said jokingly or seriously, it is about the message that one does not belong here. I expect the DA to deal with the root cause, which is people seeing themselves outside of the unitary country called South Africa and thinking that provinces are not connected,” Ndevu said.
Cape Times