ANC accuses Zille of racism

ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu.(SABC)

Tags:

• ANC
• DA
• Helen Zille
• Racism
• Education
• Refugees
• Jackson Mthembu
• Apartheid
• Government

The ANC has accused Democratic Alliance leader, Helen Zille, of racism after her comment in which she referred to Eastern Cape pupils who flock to the Western Cape for a better education as refugees.

ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu says her statement is typical of the apartheid government's influx control measures to restrict black people from so-called white areas.

The DA leader sparked a war on social networking sight Twitter this week as many users were angered by her use of the word refugee. However, Zille remained firm, saying refugees escaped when their rights were violated. Her statement was in reference to a protest in Grabouw over overcrowding at a local school.

Hellen Zille's racist statement underpins the DA's policy of exclusionism of blacks.

“Hellen Zille's racist statement underpins the DA's policy of exclusionism of blacks. She will never say the same thing about whites who relocate from one area of the country to the Western Cape or even those who relocate from other countries to the Western Cape.  To reduce South Africans who have free movement in their own country as refugees is tantamount to instigating against them by labeling them with a tag associated with foreigners,” Mthembu said in a statement.

He adds: “We have always maintained that the DA views blacks as useful voters to win elections and nothing else. We call on all black DA members to see the DA for what it is, a white racist party. We also call on all those blacks who are in leadership structures of the DA for window dressing purposes to resign from the DA and not be used unduly.  Such utterances must not be tolerated as they generate a negative feeling in those who suffered under colonial and apartheid rule.”