EDITORIAL: DA’s silence on Fritz matter is deafening

Suspended Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz

Suspended Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz

Published Feb 3, 2022

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CAPE TOWN - The DA is not fooling anyone by thinking their silence on the scandal involving its Western Cape chairperson and suspended Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz will put the party in a much better position.

Quite the opposite, this scandal will have a devastating impact on the party’s already compromised image and fuel the perception that the DA is louder on matters of other organisations, and keeps quiet when their own are involved.

The voices of John Steenhuisen and Helen Zille have been notably missing since the news broke about allegations against Fritz.

Western Cape Premier Alan Winde suspended him following allegations that he sexually abused young women who were part of the Extended Public Works Programme while he was Social Development MEC.

These allegations are so serious that they could spell the end of his political career and he could be criminally charged.

For now though, he is presumed innocent while the necessary investigations continue and he is charged and found guilty.

Questions have been rightly asked about why Winde did not refer the Fritz matter to the police to investigate, who are the proper authorities to deal with such matters, not a lawyer.

Many times the DA has rushed to the police to lodge criminal complaints against members of the other parties.

But something as heinous as Fritz is accused of is referred to a lawyer?

Why is Winde putting the onus on the victims to report to the police?

The same can be asked about DA provincial senior member JP Smith, to whom the matter was reportedly first referred. As mayco member for safety and security, surely he should have alerted the police to this?

The DA’s silence on the matter is very loud for a party that prides itself on being accountable and transparent.

Where are the women in the DA? Why have they not said anything or publicly offered to assist the alleged victims and assured them of the party’s support?

Would the DA be so silent if this was happening in the ANC or EFF?

We are not saying the DA should make any pronouncements on this matter, far from it. It would be premature to do so anyway. It should practice what it preaches to other parties.

The continued failure to do so is a clear indication of a party that appears to hide its head in the sand and is still not worth governing this country.

Perhaps that explains why it still finds itself where it is today. With the current trajectory, its relevance may be gone after 2024.

Cape Times

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