According to two DA MPs, James Lorimer and Dianne Kohler Barnard, an ANC MP referred in parliament today to the “Gupta-funded Western Cape government,” and alleged that the DA was trying to have South African Airways (SAA) shut down so “its friends can buy it.”
This was as a response to DA MP David Maynier’s claims in parliament that the EFF, ANC and NFP voted against the party’s proposed R355 end-of-year top-up for pensioners. According to Maynier these parties instead decided to bail out South African Express Airways.
The ANC MP in question may have been Yvonne Nkwenkwezi Phosa. While the ANC’s official account for the goings-on in parliament didn’t mention the Gupta comment, it did note that Phosa had taken to the podium to accuse the DA of making “populist alternative adjustment appropriation proposals that are not properly consulted [and] have no resonance with our people.”
“Again this year, they have concocted a shadow adjustment appropriation which, if considered, will only lead to job losses, loss of state business and shift from the gov’s road infrastructure and the SAA turn-around strategy investment in favour of a once off bonus,” Phosa continued.
While the DA is suggesting that the ANC, EFF and NFP’s rejection of their proposal for an end of year bonus grant for pensioners is a simple case of the parties not caring about the poor, Phosa seems to be suggesting that the matter is less simple than that, as SAA needs to be kept afloat to prevent people from losing their jobs.
The DA’s proposed pensioner’s bonus is, according the ANC, a once-off quick fix.
Why they would allege that the Western Cape government is funded by the Guptas, however, is unclear.
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