Lost and revised history of the DA, coming soon to a soapbox near you

For the next three months, the Democratic Alliance will be on a campaign to tell its "untold story". Despite attempts to sex it up, there is no hidden link between South Africa's official opposition and the Inca Empire, Steve Jobs or Muammar Gaddafi. It appears to be merely a pre-election refresher course on who the DA's leaders are and a bid to dispel perceptions that they were Apartheid enforcers. It also appears to be an endeavour to rustle up some struggle credentials and airbrush its history

At the launch of the "Our DA Campaign" in the Alexandra township in Gauteng on Saturday, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said her party "was and remains part of South Africa's struggle for freedom". "We are here to tell the untold story of the DA. It is a story about who we are, where we come from and where we are going. We want every South African to know this story.

"Like any political party, there are many strands to our history. But in recent years, the DA's strongest strand, the golden thread around which the party's tapestry has been woven for more than half a century, has somehow become obscured, even invisible," Zille said. She went on to say that the DA has allowed "our political opponents to define us"."When I travel around South Africa, it shocks me to hear that many people think the DA would bring back Apartheid if we won an election. There are a significant number of people who think the DA was responsible for Apartheid, and that Helen Suzman was a member of the ANC. I ask myself how we allowed these false perceptions to take root," Zille said.

Editor's Comment
Commitment by DPP to fight corruption welcome

Whilst many citizens put trust in their leaders that they are tackling one of the worst curses that can befall a country, the public has lost trust after all the cases seemed not to go anywhere.As the saying goes, ‘corruption is a cancer that eats away at the fabric of society’; corruption affects effective governance.Corruption affects delivery of services to the public and also crumbles most systems meant to assist citizens who are very...

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