REPORTS REGARDING ELIGIBILITY OF DA MP VAN DAMME

29 June 2014

The revelations in today's Sunday Times regarding the constitutional eligibility of DA MP Phumzile van Damme to be a Member of Parliament are both unfortunate and disturbing. It would seem that, in its window-dressing exercise of desperately recruiting and parading Black people to conceal its real identity, the DA has cut corners and in the process exposed a young African woman to an unnecessary public humiliation.

This public scrutiny into her personal life history could have been avoided had the DA conducted basic checks and made corrections where necessary. It is unfair, intrusive and cruel on Ms Van Damme that her personal history and integrity had to be questioned through a court of public opinion in this fashion. The DA should take full responsibility for putting her in this situation by flouting processes in its bid to use young Blacks as window dressers in its ranks. The DA does not have the interest of bright young Black people except to exploit, humiliate and discard them, as they have done recently with Lindiwe Mazibuko.

We know that the DA might easily sacrifice Van Damme by simply replacing her with another young Black as a means to minimize reputational damage. The party must not be allowed to destroy another young Black leader, but must take responsibility for this and put in place corrective measures.

Statement issued by the Office of the ANC Chief Whip, June 29 2014

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