INTENSE INTERNAL PRESSURE TOLD ON THE DA
Apartheid was a dreadful and violent system of oppression. For those who languished in jail or those who lost loved ones or those who were forcibly moved from their ancestral lands and dumped in some God forsaken place, apartheid was evil and a crime against humanity.
For many of us who had our freedom curtailed and our dignity diminished, 1994 was a time of Ubuntu and forgiveness. To forget was never going ro be possible.
For Diane Kohler-Barnard to glorify PW Botha through carelessness or whatever was to open wounds and take us back. Not enough is being done by those who profited from apartheid to take our society forward. The dividends of forgiveness are being eroded through arrogance and mindless behaviour.
Adrian Vlok, however we view his washing of people’s feet and his taking groceries by the bakkie load to the poor in Soweto, is at least embarking on a journey of healing and actively seeking continuing forgiveness. He has had his Damascene conversion and is trying to build bridges in the afternoon of his life.
Kohler-Barnard inflicted severe damage on her party and magnified the criticism that the DA was still steeped in the apartheid ideology.