Editor and journalist Ferial Haffajee tweeted this picture as part of a series of tweets highlighting what she believes is inadequate governance by the DA in Johannesburg's Ward 58. Picture: Twitter (@ferialhaffajee)
Veteran journalist and editor Ferial Haffajee sent out a number of tweets on Tuesday morning seeking to highlight problems with the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) governance in her area – Johannesburg’s Ward 58.
Haffajee used what she viewed as the party’s inadequate service in the area, encompassing parts of Fordsburg, Vrededorp, Crosby, Paarlshoop, and Langlaagte North, to comment on what she believed was the party’s failure to be “better at governing” in South Africa as a whole.
“Sunday, three days before [elections]. The party has said where it governs, it does so well. Not in our experience and not even on elections eve,” one tweet reads.
“[DA] campaigned on a ticket of being tough on crime. This was a facility being vandalised in broad daylight in [Ward 48]. Told DA-led government at all levels. Dololo [nothing],” another tweet reads.
“The party has said where it governs, it governs better. This is our everyday. Not better. Worse than the ANC,” reads another tweet, accompanied by pics of rubbish-strewn, dilapidated streets.
The DA “is fixing public pools as part of its promise of good public city facilities. This is our pool and it’s being mothballed. When I ask led why, the official asked for ‘contribution’,” says yet another tweet.
Several of the tweets make the point that there are “no angels in politics”.
Haffajee then engaged with several Twitter users who responded to her tweet.
One user said Haffajee’s tweets were unfair as the DA’s coalition government in Johannesburg had inherited an “infrastructure backlog in excess of R140 billion”.
In response, Haffajee called him a “DA-employed cadre”, adding that in her view such people “never countenance history when it is cited by [the ANC] but do use it to explain failed government in Johannesburg’s inner-city”.
Another said the DA was “streets ahead of the others in ethics and accountability”.
“The DA is a good opposition party, but in ethics and accountability, our experience in Ward 58 has taught us bitter lessons of how very untrue that is,” Haffajee countered.
Yet another user accused her of going on an “anecdote-based party-bashing session the day before the elections”.
“In your opinion. It’s my own timeline, not any organisations. And you are, of course, free to ignore me as your party has ignored our community since it won the election in 2016,” was Haffajee’s reply.
Haffajee also took to Twitter on Tuesday morning to share an opinion piece in The Daily Maverick by Saul Musker arguing that “For South Africa to succeed, we need to support Cyril Ramaphosa”.
“Supporting [Ramaphosa] means giving power to the corrupt [ANC]. Cyril’s power is NOT absolute and is depended on the NEC. Cyril will NOT complete his next term,” one user responded.
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