EFF Western Cape calls for the immediate removal of the DA councillor, Sharon Sabbagh for referring to other councillors as monkeys

31 March 2024

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in the Western Cape calls for the immediate removal of the Democratic Alliance (DA) Councilor, Sharon Sabbagh for referring to other Councillors as monkeys during a committee meeting in Knysna. An audio recording of the aforementioned meeting is making rounds on social media where in Councillor, Sabbagh is heard making the following remarks, .we are gonna have a yeppa yeppa monkey circus going on here", referring to other Councillors. Sabbagh's racist behaviour is unacceptable and should never be left unchallenged.

The racist behaviour of referring and calling black people monkeys is not an isolated case, but both a structural and endemic phenomenon whose roots could be traced back to colonialism and later apartheid where black people were depicted in a negative light and their blackness portrayed as an aberration.

In the South African context not only did colonialism undermine the human dignity of the black indigenous Africans but it also sought to locate them outside of the human family closer to the animal kingdom, hence their treatment as lesser human beings. This blatant racism reveals the psychosis of many white racists who are still locked in this racist mentality of treating black people like animals and children of a lesser God.

Her conduct has provoked many black people causing crimen injuria in a deliberate Crimen injuria is "a wilful injury to attempt to undermine their dignity. someone's dignity, caused by the use of obscene or racially offensive language or gestures", and by referring to black people as monkeys, Sabbagh has done exactly that. And her utterances are a microcosm of a much bigger institutionalized racism. Under the EFF government racism shall be declared a punishable criminal offence and those who practice it either covertly or overtly shall be harshly punished. We will uproot racism to an extent that it no longer becomes a central determinant in the provision of health services to the residents of the Western Cape.

The EFF government will allocate funds and research to quantify the impact and extent of damage due to neglect attributable to racism. Under our government, health care institutions, doctors' rooms, and medical schools will work to reverse the impact of racism on everyone, including medical staff and the broader society.

EFF Western Cape calls on the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to investigate Sabbagh with immediate effect. We will also lay a charge with the South African Police Service (SAPS) for Sabbagh to be arrested. #SabbaghMustFall

Issued by Unathi Ntame, Provincial Chairperson, EFF Western Cape, 2 April 2024