By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The recent remarks made by Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen while on the campaign trail in Pretoria at the weekend, have sparked outrage among South Africans.
Steenhuisen visited Soshanguve’s crime hotspot in Block P famously known as “Jukulyn” in the north of Tshwane on Saturday (27 January) to call out the governing party for its failure to deal with criminal activities.
He went as far as taking a swipe at Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi for hiring crime wardens. He said instead of using the funds allocated for crime prevention wardens, they should have been redirected toward improving the capabilities of the South African Police Service.
“Here in Soshanguve, you don’t need me to tell you about the cost of violent crime. The people of Soshanguve are subjected to this living hell on a daily basis,” he said.
He added, “Lesufi took your tax money to buy ill-fitting PEP Store uniforms for untrained cadres and pretended that they were ‘crime wardens.’ What kind of person pulls a drunkard out of a shebeen, gives him a uniform and a weapon and then unleashes them onto a community.”
ActionSA interim national chair Michael Beaumont said comments made by Steenhuisen about Lesufi’s crime wardens do nothing to advance the image of the multi-party charter.
Beaumont did not take kindly to Steenhuisen’s remarks about Lesufi’s crime wardens.
“This is precisely why Action SA must be bigger and stronger within the multi-party charter for South Africa, so that this kind of language does not find expression in coalition governments.”
Brett Herron, GOOD Secretary-General said Steenhuisen wants people to believe that, due to his party’s brilliance, murder in the DA-led Western Cape province is down 40%, in fact, the most recent set of national crime statistics, released at the end of November 2023 recorded a near 11% spike in the provincial murder rate.
“Steenhuisen is shamelessly exploiting peoples’ suffering under grotesque rates of crime to claim a false advantage for his party at the elections.”
“This is part of the overall DA strategy to present the DA-led Western Cape as exceptional compared to other provinces. In fact, the quality of life of people struggling for resources in the Western Cape is equally miserable and under-resourced as that of their peers in any other province,” he said.
Broadcaster Redi Tlhabi also slammed Steenhuisen for his comments: “Many of us have criticised Lesufi’s populism and lack of evidence-based interventions. But you lot and racist tropes! I will give you a clue… Pep stores (mostly low-income black clients) Drunkards (every recruit is black) Shebeen ( black, township word for pub). Awful. And racist.”
Meanwhile in Limpopo, Patriotic Alliance (PA)leader, Gayton Mckenzie went on a campaign trail where he promised voters that his party will fight against illegal immigrants, drugs and poverty.
Mckenzie said unless the people there love suffering, then his party will not do well, but if they want change, he is their man.
“I mean I was at your border trying to protect them and to show them we are a borderless country already. The PA is the fastest growing party in the country that brings coloured people, black people and white people together.”
In KZN, hundreds of people attended the uMkhonto Wesizwe Party (MK) at KwaXimba in the west of Durban. Party coordinator Thulani Gamede said the party will prioritise its voters when it comes to land and free education.