ANC governs like Black Lives don’t Matter

19 February 2016

While the ANC’s march on itself today is deeply ironic, they would do well to use the opportunity to reflect on their dismal performance in ensuring that the economy grows, millions of jobs are created and that the structural legacy of Apartheid is addressed.

But this will be a hard feat to achieve, because the truth is that the ANC governs on a daily basis like Black Lives Don’t Matter. 

8.3 million South Africans are unemployed, with 1.8 million more joining the ranks of the unemployed since President Zuma was elected. Most of these South Africans are young and Black, and have been ignored by a government that puts its cronies above the best interests of the people.

If Black Lives Mattered to the ANC, President Zuma would have addressed this jobs crisis in a meaningful way during his State of the Nation Address this past week, and his caucus would have insisted he provide answers on how unemployment will be addressed, when they debated the State of the Nation Address earlier this week.

But they didn’t, because the ANC shows – on a daily basis – that Black Lives Don’t Matter to them.  

Moreover, if they were indeed serious about tackling our painful past in a way that brought change to the lives of ordinary South Africans, more would also have been done to fight corruption. Billions of rands are lost each year in this way, while tens of thousands of young people – most of whom are Black – battle to find the money they need to access higher education, so that they can one day find a job. 

But the ANC has been silent on this too. Instead, their MPs have gone to great lengths to protect President Zuma from having to answer for the Nkandlagate scandal. Today, I hope that their memorandum will ask him to pay back all the money he owes, and that he apologise to the nation for his abuse of our democracy and Constitution.

But we already know they won’t, because the ANC shows – every day – that Black Lives Don’t Matter to them.

The DA will continue to work every day to build and strengthen our rainbow nation, because the lives of all South Africans really do matter to us. If we work together, we can prosper together. And if we grow the economy, create millions of jobs, and address the structural inequality in our economy, we can create a truly non-racial South Africa that generations ahead of us will be proud of. 

Statement issued by Refiloe Nt'sekhe MPL, DA National Spokesperson, 19 February 2016