THE Mmusi Maimane-led Democratic Alliance (DA) federal executive should not have terminated Dianne Kohler Barnard’s membership for sharing a Facebook post that called for the return of former president PW Botha and praised the apartheid president for providing better services to the public.
The decision to fire her will not help the DA steal votes from the African National Congress (ANC), nor will it help it source more funds from the JSE-listed companies that support political parties. In fact, that decision is inconsistent with the values for which Maimane claims to stand.
I bet if a senior person from the ANC had tweeted something thought to be racist, the party’s national executive committee would not have fired him or her.
I have heard many senior people in the ANC uttering racist statements — referring to black businessmen who do business with the state as "tenderpreneurs", for instance, but not referring similarly to white-owned companies and businessmen who make loads of cash supplying government departments and state-owned entities with goods and services.
I bet the ANC would never expel its leaders for their lack of consciousness on the racist tenderpreneur issue. Even worse, I have heard many card-carrying members of the ANC argue that infrastructure in many towns was better under apartheid.
What the DA decision on Kohler Barnard shows is just how shallow this party can be when it deals with the real issues surrounding racism in SA.
It is like saying a white person can’t be racist because they speak Zulu, or me arguing I can’t be tribalist because I am from the Eastern Cape and married to someone from Limpopo.
But cutting to the chase, why should Maimane speak out against that decision and why is he appearing to be inconsistent?
From someone like Maimane, who holds a Master’s degree in theology and is a preacher, one would expect a different approach. The approach that his party has taken contradicts what he says he stands for.
In a sermon delivered by Maimane and available on YouTube, he says he wants to be a friend of sinners, and that this is part of the mission God has given him. I quote: "You know what I am most grateful of is that in my friendship circles there are Muslims, there are gay people…. I believe that’s what God has called us to. I take the verse that Jesus says that I didn’t come for the well, but I came for the sick. I take that quite seriously."
He then argues that when he once joined a soccer team, he did not join a Christian side, but a bunch of rebels who would utter unmentionable words about the opposition’s mothers. Essentially, as a Christian who did not swear, Maimane’s argument is that he was trying to transform these rebels into good people, and Christians.
Maimane was trying to act like Paul in Corinthians, who writes that "To the weak, I became weak to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that by all possible means I might save some." But he did not demonstrate this trait, at least to the public when it came to the Kohler Barnard matter.
As a leader in a country striving for nonracialism, Maimane should have pushed for Kohler Barnard’s rehabilitation if he genuinely believes she is racist. Rather than firing her, he should have said she must be converted, just like he tried to do with his foul-mouthed soccer teammates. He will not build the DA by firing racists because there are many of them there.
In fact, Maimane and his leadership risk being inconsistent because they are not going to fire all these people. I can bet there are many people who have said worse things than the post Kohler Barnard shared on Facebook. Those people are still in the DA and will not be fired because they were not caught.
Of course, this misguided way of fighting racism is not unique to the DA. Last week, some black people were celebrating how the University of Stellenbosch would now adopt English as primary medium of instruction. How can a takeover by another colonially rooted language be a victory? Shouldn’t the struggle and victory be about Sepedi, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Setswana and the many other African languages becoming mediums of instruction?
• Disclaimer: I am not a member of the DA and do not know Dianne Kohler Barnard from a bar of soap.
Dianne Kohler Barnard. Picture: TREVOR SAMSON
THE Mmusi Maimane-led Democratic Alliance (DA) federal executive should not have terminated Dianne Kohler Barnard’s membership for sharing a Facebook post that called for the return of former president PW Botha and praised the apartheid president for providing better services to the public.
The decision to fire her will not help the DA steal votes from the African National Congress (ANC), nor will it help it source more funds from the JSE-listed companies that support political parties. In fact, that decision is inconsistent with the values for which Maimane claims to stand.
I bet if a senior person from the ANC had tweeted something thought to be racist, the party’s national executive committee would not have fired him or her.
I have heard many senior people in the ANC uttering racist statements — referring to black businessmen who do business with the state as "tenderpreneurs", for instance, but not referring similarly to white-owned companies and businessmen who make loads of cash supplying government departments and state-owned entities with goods and services.
I bet the ANC would never expel its leaders for their lack of consciousness on the racist tenderpreneur issue. Even worse, I have heard many card-carrying members of the ANC argue that infrastructure in many towns was better under apartheid.
What the DA decision on Kohler Barnard shows is just how shallow this party can be when it deals with the real issues surrounding racism in SA.
It is like saying a white person can’t be racist because they speak Zulu, or me arguing I can’t be tribalist because I am from the Eastern Cape and married to someone from Limpopo.
But cutting to the chase, why should Maimane speak out against that decision and why is he appearing to be inconsistent?
From someone like Maimane, who holds a Master’s degree in theology and is a preacher, one would expect a different approach. The approach that his party has taken contradicts what he says he stands for.
In a sermon delivered by Maimane and available on YouTube, he says he wants to be a friend of sinners, and that this is part of the mission God has given him. I quote: "You know what I am most grateful of is that in my friendship circles there are Muslims, there are gay people…. I believe that’s what God has called us to. I take the verse that Jesus says that I didn’t come for the well, but I came for the sick. I take that quite seriously."
He then argues that when he once joined a soccer team, he did not join a Christian side, but a bunch of rebels who would utter unmentionable words about the opposition’s mothers. Essentially, as a Christian who did not swear, Maimane’s argument is that he was trying to transform these rebels into good people, and Christians.
Maimane was trying to act like Paul in Corinthians, who writes that "To the weak, I became weak to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that by all possible means I might save some." But he did not demonstrate this trait, at least to the public when it came to the Kohler Barnard matter.
As a leader in a country striving for nonracialism, Maimane should have pushed for Kohler Barnard’s rehabilitation if he genuinely believes she is racist. Rather than firing her, he should have said she must be converted, just like he tried to do with his foul-mouthed soccer teammates. He will not build the DA by firing racists because there are many of them there.
In fact, Maimane and his leadership risk being inconsistent because they are not going to fire all these people. I can bet there are many people who have said worse things than the post Kohler Barnard shared on Facebook. Those people are still in the DA and will not be fired because they were not caught.
Of course, this misguided way of fighting racism is not unique to the DA. Last week, some black people were celebrating how the University of Stellenbosch would now adopt English as primary medium of instruction. How can a takeover by another colonially rooted language be a victory? Shouldn’t the struggle and victory be about Sepedi, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Setswana and the many other African languages becoming mediums of instruction?
• Disclaimer: I am not a member of the DA and do not know Dianne Kohler Barnard from a bar of soap.
Change: 1.37%
Change: 1.32%
Change: 2.91%
Change: 0.45%
Change: 3.09%
Data supplied by Profile Data
Change: 1.63%
Change: 0.83%
Change: 1.37%
Change: 0.00%
Change: 0.69%
Data supplied by Profile Data
Change: -2.04%
Change: -1.88%
Change: -1.66%
Change: -1.94%
Change: -1.37%
Data supplied by Profile Data
Change: -1.25%
Change: 0.00%
Change: -0.85%
Change: -1.74%
Change: 2.92%
Data supplied by Profile Data