DA’S CONSPIRACY REGARDING THE HATEFUL BILLBOARD
18 January 2016
The Office of the ANC Chief Whip has denounced and distanced the movement form a Facebook post by ANC MP Bongani Mkongi calling for the burning of the Cape Town building on which the anti-President Zuma banner was erected. Cde Mkongi has stressed that he harboured no intention to either harm or cause violence, and has since publicly retracted and apologised for the post. Indeed the provocative and inflammatory banner was taken down peacefully. We have accepted the retraction and apology and no further action against him has been decided.
All South Africans committed to non-racialism, racial unity and nation-building must at all times reject deliberate acts of provocation and polarisation driven by racist bigots both within and outside the Democratic Alliance. The gigantic and expensive billboard, sponsored by the privileged and wealthy racists of the DA, had all the malicious intent to racially polarise and incite political tensions with a view to distract public attention from the increasing levels of racism both inside and outside the ranks of the DA.
The DA has been pulling all the stops to defend and justify racism and promotion of apartheid amongst its membership, and has thus sought to create an expensive stunt to deflect from the negative attention it has been suffering. Any call for the removal of a democratically elected President outside of the provisions of the Constitution is reckless, unlawful and tantamount to inciting political violence.
Although the DA denies responsibility and its City of Cape Town claims no permission was sought for its erection, its conduct on the face of it makes a mockery of its denial:
i. It is clear that there was conspiracy between the DA-governed Metro and the company that put up the illegal banner, with the city turning a blind eye and publicly acting outraged by the illegal erection.
ii. Despite the city being aware of the illegal erection as soon as it begun, with the media carrying it live, it did nothing to stop it. Instead of dispatching the metro police to stop the public violation of its laws, all it did was to issue a media statement.
iii. The deal between the DA government and the company seems to be that, although the illegal banner would be publicly ‘denounced’ by the City and eventually instruct its removal within a period determined by the City itself, the impact would have been made regardless. The City would have procrastinated on the removal of the banner for days, or even for weeks, while it rhetoricizes about its unlawfulness and legal action.
iv. This explains why the DA and the City reacted with anger, and the City is now threatening legal action, against those who peacefully removed the illegal banner for alleged “malicious damage to property” – a ‘property’ which the city itself declared unlawful.
v. The DA government and the company know too well that the only penalty the DA company would get is a fine, a small change for a wealthy and privileged individual or entity that can easily throw R600 000 on a hateful street billboard.
vi. The conspiracy around the billboard was confirmed by its leader Mmusi Maimane. When asked by a Johannesburg-based radio station whether his party was responsible for the billboard, he said he could “neither confirm nor deny” – a response that is generally understood to be affirmative.
All these points to a racism and apartheid apologist party that is not shy to finance an expensive stunt just to ensure that a critical public conversation on racism and its complicity in it is swept under the carpet. Naturally, such underhanded tactics are bound to backfire.
Statement issued by the Office of the ANC Chief Whip, 18 January 2016
