Fransman: Ethnic division a reality in Cape

Cape Town-130501-Marius Fransman May Day celebrations at the Good Hope Centre today-Reporter-Clayton Barnes

Cape Town-130501-Marius Fransman May Day celebrations at the Good Hope Centre today-Reporter-Clayton Barnes

Published Oct 10, 2013

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Cape Town -

Ethnic division in Cape Town is a reality if one looks at property and land ownership, ANC Western Cape leader Marius Fransman said on Thursday.

“The reality is... 98 percent... of the land owners and property owners actually is the white community and, in particular, also people in the Jewish community,” he told the Cape Town Press Club.

“That is not an ethnic mobilisation, that is the reality. The question is: how do we move from that to make sure we get shared ownership?”

He said it was a “perceptional issue” to believe the provincial ANC was using division along ethnic lines as a strategy to gain votes.

In an interview with the Voice of the Cape radio station in February, Fransman alleged that the Democratic Alliance had given Jewish businessmen building contracts previously held by Muslims in two Cape Town suburbs.

The SA Jewish Board of Deputies lodged a complaint with the SA Human Rights Commission, which arranged a mediation process.

The complaint was that Fransman had made demeaning and inflammatory remarks that could create animosity between Muslims and Jews.

Fransman said he would meet the board later on Thursday, but gave no details.

He was asked what the ANC was doing to win the coloured constituency in the province.

“We don't need to do too much on that. They (the DA-run provincial government) have messed it up,” he said.

It was Fransman's view that the DA had lost popularity in the constituency because of its handling of the yearly Cape Minstrel Carnival and its alleged alienation of the Khoisan community. - Sapa

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