Eddy Maloka: Driving a tired narrative
Like many others, mostly found at Luthuli House or the majority party benches of the National Assembly, Eddy Maloka joins the ranks of those who drive a tired narrative, which says black people who succeed outside the ranks of the ANC should be viewed with suspicion as they are puppets with no agency of their own.
Through literary bile, Maloka attempts to negate the hard work that Democratic Alliance Leader (with a capital “L”), Mmusi Maimane, has put in to be elected as the chief of the Official Opposition. Maimane’s election, with over 90% of the support from Federal Congress delegates, did not fall from heaven like manner.
Maimane started off as the DA’s City of Johannesburg mayoral candidate, where his efforts grew the party’s support from 27% to 35% during the 2011 Local Government Elections. This figure is sure to grow under Maimane’s leadership during next year’s elections.
In the same year, Maimane was appointed as the DA’s National Spokesperson, where he was at the forefront of articulating the party’s policies and decisions.
As a show of confidence by the party’s members, Maimane was elected to serve as the DA’s First Deputy Federal Chairperson, at the DA Federal Congress in 2012.
In 2014, Maimane ran as the DA’s Premier candidate for Gauteng, where he travel over 50,000-kilometres across the province, articulating the party’s vision for the province and country under a DA-led government. His efforts, leadership and character saw the party grow over to 30%, from 21,86% in the previous election.
Maimane then went on to be elected to lead the party’s 102 strong parliamentary caucus. A caucus that is more united and hardworking than ever before.
With this all in front of you, it would be ludicrous to believe even an iota of what Maloka wrote.
The DA and its leadership is working hard to ensure that future generations inherit a better South Africa, and that the DA leads South Africa from the Union Buildings. This is the work that Maimane is invested in. This is Maimane’s vision and it’s under his leadership that it will be achieved.
Maloka’s myopic thinking cannot see or think beyond black interests or white interests. Unlike those who can only live in the past, the DA does not mobilise on the basis of race or class. The DA represents the future of South Africa, hence we mobilise around the universal values of Freedom, Fairness and Opportunity. These are values that transcend race and class that all South Africans, black and white, can and will get behind. Next year’s elections will validate this.
Maloka’s writing is defensive, and reads like the script of the increasingly paranoid and threatened ANC, which is set to face another hit at the polls as more and more South Africans vote for the DA’s clean record of governance and quality service delivery.
Over the weekend, after a month of crisscrossing the country on the Freedom, Fairness and Opportunity Tour, Maimane will launch the DA’s #Vision2029 campaign. The campaign will give South Africans a glimpse into how the country will look like after 10 years of the DA in the Union Buildings. The DA is ready, and we will show the nation what to expect from the DA in national government.
While the ANC and its associates intensify their propaganda campaign of painting the DA and its leadership in a bad light, through column space, the DA will continue with its hard work of building a better South Africa by mobilising on the ground and putting forward coherent and progressive policies in the country’s councils, legislatures and Parliament.
Mabine Seabe is spokesperson to the DA Leader
