MAFIKA MNDEBELE
The reaction of the DA to the public outrage following allegations of corruption levelled against its councillor and mayor of uMngeni Local Municipality Chris Pappas has revealed a few things.
First, it has reminded us of the apartheid era in which public service was an appendage to an illegitimate government which was not accountable to anyone except a minority.
As we all know, under the apartheid government, the majority were treated as passive recipients who had to accept what they were given.
There was no culture of openness, transparency and accountability. Government actions were often labelled top secret or confidential.
Despite both Chris Pappas and his fiancé, JP Prinsloo admitting in interviews that indeed he (Prinsloo) was awarded a tourism contract, DA KwaZulu-Natal leaders such as Francois Rodgers and Dean Macpherson have tried to deflect attention from the scandal. They have accused those who are calling for accountability of being involved in a smear campaign.
DA provincial leaders have forgotten that under a democratic government, citizens know their rights. In addition, social media has ensured that the secrecy that characterised the apartheid system is eradicated.
Judging by discussions on various platforms, ordinary members of society have welcomed investigations to be conducted by both the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs and the public protector.
The public protector in particular and other Chapter Nine institutions were created to flush out the dictates of the apartheid ideology in the public service.
Under the apartheid government decisions were mainly of a top-down nature and no one was allowed to ask questions. It is very clear that Pappas, Rodgers and Macpherson are living in the past where whites-only leaders in government were not questioned.
Where do we come from exactly with Pappas?
The second issue that perhaps we need to focus on is the failed attempts by Pappas and the DA to stop the premier’s imbizo. The event finally took place on July 15 at Mpophomeni Stadium after Pappas’s involvement in the hit-and-run incident.
As the ANC, we took strong exception to what we described as an attempt to turn uMngeni Local Municipality into Pappas’ “No-Go-Area Fiefdom”.
Driven by nothing but to preserve the pre-1994 status quo, the DA has tried all tricks in the book to wrest power from the ANC, all under false pretences.
That its efforts have only deepened the racial divide in our society, does not seem to bother the DA. If it cannot get power by fair means, then it will attain this objective even by fronting with a racist leader who speaks Zulu.
In the run-up to the 2024 general elections, the DA’s racist fightback campaign of two decades ago, has again been unleashed on our people. In this campaign, the purported motivation for the DA is to keep ANC wolves at bay.
Incredible as this motivation is, the DA is banking on the gullibility and ignorance of a few to fall for its lies. In this narrative, there was no administration before 1994 and the ANC inherited a government that was working perfectly-fine for all the citizens of the country and everything was hunky-dory.
It blames the ills afflicting our country on the ANC and seeks to project itself as the messiah. Yet, even a cursory look at our history and the record of the DA, in its various incarnations, shows that it has never stood with the oppressed masses.
History shows that even the DA’s revered Helen Suzman initially sought a qualified franchise and not universal franchise for Africans. The least said about Tony Leon the better, suffice to say that his father, Ramon Leon, sentenced Umkhonto we Sizwe operative, Andrew Zondo, to the gallows.
Latterly, even Helen Zille, she who claimed to have exposed the plot behind the assassination of anti-apartheid activist, Steve Biko, months ago praised colonialism and apartheid for the development that these brought to our land.
The fate of Mmusi Maimane is well-documented and the mediocre capabilities of John Steenhuisen are well-known.
So, the DA is not what it claims to be. It is the last citadel for white power and privilege in South Africa.
We also saw how the DA leaders brazenly tried to expropriate the legacy of the global icon Nelson Mandela for their own selfish interest. For Pappas to stand on the legacy of Tata Madiba and attempt to besmirch the current leaders of the ANC is just pure opportunism. It is opportunism borne of a superiority complex premised on racism.
Pappas thinks that his smattering command of the language of the natives who are the majority in KwaZulu-Natal would grant him automatic acceptance by the masses of our people. Our people have seen through this façade.
Our people know that our oppressors also used, and continue to use isiZulu on farms and in factories, to oppress and short-change them. An opportunist like Pappas would not be awake to this fact.
It is interesting that Macpherson, the DA KZN chairperson, in particular through various social media platforms, has been hurling insults at the ANC provincial chair, Siboniso Duma unprovoked. This has been done in an attempt to elevate Pappas. Some have correctly likened the DA’s action to an attempt to make a dwarf look like a giant.
Fake media accounts and troll armies have been hired. This is a clear indication that the DA has been working assiduously to hammer out its attack on Duma.
Unfortunately, its plan has gone flat because Duma has remained focused on his responsibilities and not bothered about its scurrilous campaign.
Duma rose through the ranks of the ANC Youth League and has served in various portfolio committees in the legislature since 2014.
He is the MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs and the leader of government business. To top it all, the auditor-general presented his department and more than five of his entities with a clean audit outcome report for the financial year 2022/23.
In addition, Duma is a committed family man who runs his family on strong Christian values. He has never been accused of using public office to bankroll the lavish lifestyle.
The same cannot be said about the tiny Pappas.
It is ingrained in his psyche that, purely on the basis of the colour of his skin and the philosophy of racial superiority that he subscribes to, he is ordained to lead, irrespective of his lack of experience.
Like many of his ilk, his eyes are blind to the fact that the country is where it is today because of the decisions that his forefathers took and from which he draws his own privilege.
He is blind to the fact that the ANC, through its pragmatic policies, rescued this country from an abyss of race-motivated violence and strife.
The skewed distribution of land and productive assets and weak property rights can be directly linked to the Land Act of 1913 and many other pieces of segregationist legislation.
While the DA’s call for the people of KwaZulu-Natal to reject the ANC is unfounded and will not find traction, it does mean that we have a duty to safeguard the legacy of our movement and our leaders who have since been called to higher service.
The people of South Africa know their liberators.
They know where their current challenges stem from. They know about the global economic slowdown and its effects on their lives. They know that the ANC is their beacon of hope. They know that Pappas’ sole intention is, using stealth and guile, to put them back in chains.
They know that the DA’s fightback campaign, whose arrowhead is Pappas in KwaZulu-Natal, spells the reversal of the gains of the national democratic revolution.
They know that the many victories that Pappas is claiming as his today in uMngeni Local Municipality, were projects that were conceptualised by an ANC administration. They know that he is reaping where he definitely did not sow.
As the ANC, we are not going to be distracted by the theatrics of Pappas and the racist DA. If the DA decides to continue with its fightback campaign, then it does so at its own peril.
The voters will definitely be harsh on it at the polls, because the overwhelming majority do not want to go back to apartheid.
Given his age, Pappas can still change and abandon the ill-fated project of white supremacy that he is championing and join all patriotic South Africans in building a national democratic society.
Mqondisi Duma, the convenor of the ANC Youth League in KZN is Pappas’s equal and will gladly assist Pappas to liberate himself from the mentality steeped in the ideology of apartheid.
We are looking forward to the 2019 Manifesto Review Rally which will take place at Harry Gwala Stadium this Sunday. We will reflect on service delivery in all municipalities under uMgungundlovu District including uMngeni.
We will give all communities the opportunity to assess the performance of the government they elected into office.
Mafika Mndebele is the ANC KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson.
Daily News