The prodigious letters by Thabile Mange from Kagiso, who has written two in the last while, both dealing with the DA, have reference. They are headlined ANC will retain Mogale City and DA promotes patriarchy.
Mr Mange’s obsession with the DA could either be the result of his fear that the DA will perform much better in the local government election than he hopes, or alternatively, that he is trying to elicit a response by race-baiting. Let me indulge him by responding, but only to disavow him of his factually incorrect and misleading assertions.
Mr Mange takes issue with the fact that I, a white person, responded to his previous letter. Why is it, Thabile, that you and I cannot relate to each other as South Africans? Why, in terms of your world view, should only black DA members respond to you because you are black? To suggest, as you do, that this shows black voters that the DA doesn’t care about them, is a serious failure of logic.
As a result of this country’s history, race is important, but we in the DA do not mobilise on the basis of race, but rather on the basis of values. That is not to say that we do not recognise that the impact of apartheid will be with us for generations to come and that redress is necessary to build a socially cohesive country and nation.
Your contention that the DA is a formerly white party is historically correct. The fact is that we now have more black members than white. As I said before, the racial composition of our membership does not matter, because we campaign on the basis of an electoral offer of jobs in a growing economy, anti-corruption measures, policies to ensure that we live in safe neighbourhoods and value-for-money service delivery.
It is arrogant for you to suggest that the black members of the DA are not politically savvy. I would be happy to invite you around after the elections to interact with our members and activists for a political chat. Hopefully you will be able to hold your own.
You ask what the official opposition has done for the “masses”. What you forget to mention is that it is the governing party that has access to the resources with which the lives of people need to be improved. Despite access to these resources, thousands of people in Mogale City are unemployed, live in abhorrent conditions in informal settlements and have no hope for the future. Give the DA access to the resources of government by voting us into power and we will be in a position to show you what we can do for the people of this municipality.
Thabile, you accuse the DA of all sorts of dastardly deeds in your first letter, including not empowering women. A limit on the length of my reply prevents me from responding to all the allegations, but for the record, 48 per cent of our ward candidates and 40 per cent of our PR candidates in the Top 20 are women.
Notwithstanding your jaundiced, negative view of the DA, we remain the only party capable of taking a ward, municipality or Metro off the ANC. I predict that we will do so without your vote.
Finally, Thabile, may I suggest that you factor into your possible scenarios the option that the ANC in Mogale City could be end up with under 50 per cent of the vote. I know it will upset you to contemplate such a possibility, but if you try hard enough, you may just succeed.
