DA Federal Council Chairperson Helen Zille has refused to denounce the electioneering posters of her party in Phoenix, in Durban which caused a public uproar. The posters appeared to endorse the recent vigilante killings of black people by Indians.
More than 30 people died in Phoenix in allegedly racially motivated attacks during July’s civil unrest.
The DA’s KwaZulu-Natal leadership has since apologised and pulled down the posters.
Zille says she will not accept the scapegoating of minorities by government.
“I reject the majority scapegoating the minority. I reject cut the throat of whiteness. I reject kill the boer. I reject things like saying all Indians are racist because it is those kinds of things that lead to things like the Rwanda genocide and the holocaust. The majority government is failing every single person in this country. They cannot fulfil their most basic responsibilities of keeping people safe.”
DA backtracks
Last week, the DA took down posters that read: The ANC called you racists; the DA calls you heroes. The party backtracked after criticism that it was fueling racial tension in the area.
LGE 2021 | DA to remove its controversial Phoenix posters:
IFP weighs in with own posters
On Monday, IFP founder Mangosuthu Buthelezi said it was sickening to see some political parties using the killings in Phoenix, north of Durban, during the July unrest to gain votes. Buthelezi’s statement came after other parties criticised the DA and accused it of fueling racial tensions.
More than 30 people died in the allegedly racially motivated attacks.
The IFP took its election campaign to Phoenix, where it unveiled its poster, following the controversy over DA posters with regard to violence in the Phoenix area during the July unrest.
Buthelezi joined the party’s election campaign for the first time, as they launched the part own posters on the topic.
The IFP posters read: Real Heroes Unite Heroes.
Buthelezi says it is disappointing that some political parties are now using the Phoenix incidents for their own political gains.
“There is a debate raging in Phoenix right now about heroes and racists. It’s a debate that seeks to divide and that uses scare tactics and hatred to pit south Africans against one another. I know how propaganda is involved as I myself became a victim of propaganda on social media when I publicly praised the community of Phoenix for standing against lawlessness and destruction.”
Meanwhile, the parents of 19-year-old Mondli Majola, who was murdered in Phoenix, north of Durban, during the July unrest, say they are bitterly disappointed that they were not present at the exhumation of his body. Majola’s body was privately exhumed at Flagstaff in the Eastern Cape on Tuesday.
The exhumation comes after contradictory evidence was presented in court over the cause of death during a bail application by the three accused.
The state’s forensic pathologist said in her report that Majola died from a stab wound. But the investigating officer has testified that Majola was shot in the face as well.
Majola’s mother, Nombuso, says, “There is nothing else we can do. We were told that this is the only way to get justice. The family is going through a very difficult time. I am very emotional about what is happening in the Eastern Cape today. I can’t sleep when I’m thinking about this. It is breaking me literally.”
Majola’s father, Learnmore Siwela, says he was furious after watching security footage of how his son and other people were being attacked.
Phoenix murder case during July unrest adjourned:
