JOMO SIBIYA
Dear Mr John Steenhuisen,
I wish to inform you that I am inundated with messages of support from Democratic Alliance leaders and ordinary members of your party following your bizarre interview in which you attacked me without any form of provocation.
I remain encouraged by words of encouragement from my party, the African National Congress, leaders of political parties, and ordinary members of society across all political lines.
I must admit, it was painful to see you on national television cornered and waffling.
Painful as it was, the truth of the matter is that without the media and social media, in particular, potential voters wouldn’t have known that you are the champion of hatred and anti-black behaviour.
Indeed, the duty of the media is not to be praise singers of elected leaders. Those who are in positions of authority must be held accountable at all times. The media did exactly that yesterday and this morning.
The whole country is currently discussing your racist tendencies that have been exposed by a journalist young enough to be your daughter.
I hope that when your spin doctors, propagandists and strategists do a post- mortem of your election posters in Phoenix, they will be frank to admit that it was an ill-advised gamble and an unmitigated disaster that will remain the hallmark of your political career.
Based on morality and a conscious act of volition on their part, members of your party’s provincial management committee, and some nationally, have contacted me, distancing themselves from you and these posters.
This open rejection gives all of us hope that the values of humility and respect are embedded in society.
In actual fact, racists like you are a tiny minority who must be marginalised.
When we all celebrated the dawn of democracy, we never imagined that 27 years down the line, we would one day be subjected to rampant racism.
It is a known fact that racism results in the deprivation of the rights and dignity of citizens and poses a threat to their rightful participation in the socio-economic development of this country.
The rights and freedoms, which the Constitution entrenches, are threatened every time each citizen becomes a victim of racism.
Following these racists posters and your embarrassing interview, we need to face the fact that those who perpetrate racism against fellow citizens belong to our communities and are in leadership positions.
Because racism occurs in our communities, it is vital that, as a society, we must begin to come together to discuss how we can eradicate this scourge from our society. This is the message I have been getting from all sections of society, including those from the party you claim to lead.
Communities must internalise the fact the masterminds behind racism are often respectable individuals like you, who have an outwardly decent public profile as responsible citizens living in rich suburbs.
These individuals, like you, do not know poverty but claim to represent the aspirations of unsuspecting poor blacks and Africans in particular.
Many racists, like you, Mr Steenhuisen, often elude prosecution and conviction through highly paid lawyers who always await to capitalise on legal technicalities to secure their release.
The prevalence of racism perpetrated by you as the DA leader is an indictment to all of us as the people of this province especially, all of us as elected public representatives.
It has been stated that racism weakens the fabric of our society and erodes the trust and the optimism on which socio-economic growth depends.
Leaders like you, who continue to live in the past, are not only a threat to our democracy but are a barrier towards transforming our country into a non-racial future.
We will, however, work tirelessly as the ANC government to undo the apartheid legacy which had deliberately sought to trample on the rights of black South Africans.
The majority of us, as elected public representatives, commit to champion the cause of the majority of our people who have been marginalised for decades.
We acknowledge the fact that the Department of Human Settlements, where I am assigned as an Executive Authority, is critical in healing the wounds of the victims of the Group Areas Act. This is a piece of legislation that was created by your forefathers.
For years, your forefathers were preoccupied with the programme of splitting racial groups up into different residential areas in towns and cities.
This is what you are trying to do, and you won't succeed.
Your forefathers created homelands as a way of dividing up the population into ethnic groupings.
We are currently rolling out human settlements in these remote rural areas where millions of people remain isolated from basic amenities such as water and sanitation, electricity, recreational facilities and social infrastructure such as decent hospitals, schools, libraries and academic institutions.
We are energised to defeat your efforts aimed at bringing back modernised Group Areas Act.
This is an evil piece of legislation that prevented Africans from owning properties. Through this act, Africans were prevented from running and owning their business within developed white-owned areas.
Townships such as Phoenix, Wentworth, Chatsworth, uMlazi, KwaMashu, KwaMakhutha, Cato Manor, Hammarsdale and many other townships were created not for human settlement but to allow for easy surveillance and monitoring of the people by the apartheid government that your forefathers administered. Black townships, such as KwaMashu and uMlazi, were created to supply cheap labour to your forefathers.
Our programme of action is informed by public documents that show that the controlled movement of people resulted in the widespread lack of social cohesion and a sustained culture of mistrust in society.
Africans suffered the most with the devastating consequences such as the breakdown of family life with many children growing up without the love and compassion of their parents.
Mr John Steenhuisen, public records tells us that marriages of those who moved to urban areas collapsed because houses were available for rent only to a male head. In order to qualify for a house, couples had to produce their marriage certificate, while ‘unmarried’ parents and single women were forbidden.
Mr John Steenhuisen, many public records show that African women were the hardest hit as they had very few or no legal rights, no access to education and no right to own property. Also, jobs were often hard to find because their movements were controlled.
Mr John Steenhuisen, through the bold intervention of the ruling party, women now own properties and title deeds as a security of tenure.
Mr John Steenhuisen, with your racist actions, you have opened the wounds that are healing. This is the past we had hoped to forget, but we are here today because of your racist tendencies.
Having said all of the above, we take this opportunity to salute the great sons and daughters of our province, who are refusing to be part of efforts aimed at bringing back all forms of colonial and apartheid tendencies.
We extend an invitation to all the people of this province to work with government, to build on the unity that we have achieved over the years of struggle, and the selfless dedication shown by many ordinary men and women from all cultural and racial groups.
Don’t bother to respond: I am looking forward to your defeat on November 1, 2021.
I thank you.
Jomo Sibiya is the KZN ANC PEC member and MEC for Human Settlements and Public Works
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