DURBAN - THE EFF in KwaZulu-Natal has instructed the DA to remove its “racist and divisive” election posters erected in Phoenix, saying the move was aimed at stoking racial tensions in the country.
Vusi Khoza, EFF’s KZN chairperson, threatened to remove the controversial posters, calling them insensitive to the families that lost their loved ones during the killings in Phoenix at the height of the violent unrest and looting.
The EFF was reacting to the DA election posters that have sparked a stir across the country and on social media platforms. The posters, placed next to each other, read: “The ANC called you racists” and “The DA calls you heroes”.
“We are disgusted by the posters because they show a total disregard of the people that were massacred in Phoenix. The DA must remove those or we will do so ourselves. We demonstrated that when we want to do something, we are decisive,” said Khoza. He accused the DA of undermining black people, adding that the EFF would not allow it.
“Our position is that black lives matter, you cannot act as if black people were not killed by racists in Phoenix. There are people whose lives were altered forever following the massacre. We have been patient enough, we are not turning the other cheek when our people were killed by racists,” Khoza stressed.
A victim of the Phoenix violence, Nobuhle Zitha, expressed her disappointment about the poster.
Speaking from Midrand, in Gauteng, the 25-year-old said the posters meant that the people who attacked her and her uncle were being praised by the DA.
“Life will never be the same for me, my left eye does not see, my body is swollen and I battle to walk. Surely the person who did this to me can’t be a hero,” said Zitha.
DA KZN chairperson Dean Macpherson defended the party’s decision to put up the posters, blaming the ANC instead.
“For the past three months, the ANC has created the public perception that anyone who defended their properties, family and livelihoods are racist ... as a tactic to divert attention from the total chaos the ANC sponsored factional fight inflicted on us.”
He insisted that those who defended themselves when the state abandoned them were indeed heroes. “They did what the state should do in their hour of need. This has been said many times and in fact by the president himself in July.
“We cannot allow the ANC to get away with labelling the victims of their internal fight as ‘racists’, and there must be electoral consequences,” he said.
Macpherson maintained that any community member who protected their properties and homes during the July unrest was a hero for doing so when they were let down by the state. He pointed out that the ANC-controlled eThekwini Municipality had approved the posters.
ANC spokesperson Nhlakanipho Ntombela said they were not going to open a case against the DA as they believed nothing would come of it, but expressed the ruling party’s disgust with the posters, which he labelled as “shameful and fascist in nature”.
“The disgusting act of the DA to pit people against each other using its election posters erected in the Phoenix area shows that this party has no respect for human life. It shows the true colours of the DA that is desperate to an extent of spreading lies to gain votes. Their actions reveal that they are a party that will do anything as they thrive through creating division and perpetuating racism,” said Ntombela.
He added that the ANC would never shy away from the truth in calling for all involved in the despicable killings of innocent African people in Phoenix to face jail terms.
“The wounds are still bleeding following the recent massacre of people in Phoenix. We must all reject criminals and the massacre of innocent people. Therefore, it is opportunistic of the DA to perpetuate crime and support people accused of murders,” Ntombela said.
The Electoral Commission of SA’s Thabani Ngwira said it had not received any complaint about the posters. The SA Human Rights Commission did not respond to a request for comment yesterday.
THE MERCURY