Before I continue with this blog, let me add a ‘disclaimer’: I am in no way affiliated with the Democratic Alliance or the ANC and there are aspects of both parties which I like and dislike…
Whilst Helen Zille has certainly not been exempt from hurling the odd insult at the ANC, I was extremely disturbed yesterday to hear ANC Youth Leader Julius Malema refer to Helen Zille as a ‘racist little girl’. Whenever any South African reverts to the tired ‘racist’, ‘colonialist’, and/or ‘imperialist’ tags I feel overwhelmingly irritated as, nine times out of ten, it is a cheap trump card which has no truth in it whatsoever. It is also slightly amusing to hear the terms ‘colonialist and ‘imperialist’ in particular still being bandied about this country when Colonialism normally refers to ‘a period of history from the 15th to the 20th century when people from Europe built colonies on other continents’.
Had Malema perhaps done a little research into Zille’s past, he might have found out that she was a prominent anti-Apartheid activist and that, while working for the Rand Daily Mail in the late 1970′s, she famously uncovered the truth behind the Steve Biko murder, risking her own life in the process. Zille was also a leading member of Black Sash, a white anti-Apartheid and pro women’s rights movement.
I love South Africa and am proud to be South African. I am however tired of the political mud-slinging (which does not exclude the DA and Helen Zille) that seems to be an intrinsic part of our society and I would like to ask all of our leaders to please put aside the filth.
I challenge and encourage South African politicians to engage more in open debate where proverbial points are scored through intellectual prowess and not cheap slander.
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