‘Racism is not only a problem of white South Africans. There are black people who are also racist.’
So said outgoing Eastern Cape DA leader Nqaba Bhanga who delivered his last address at the party’s 10th elective congress on Saturday.
‘Many people feel that racism is a white people problem. I believe that black people, too, are racist. South Africans are very scared of this topic because they don’t understand what is needed to build a project of non-racialism. The narrative in South Africa attempts to suppress the conversation and put it into one corner for certain people’, he said.
Bhanga also said that state-owned entities were better run under the apartheid regime. ‘When the ANC took over all these state-owned entities from the apartheid government, they were in better shape. I’m unapologetic about it. We don’t say things as they are. It is true.
‘There was a school in the township where I went to. ‘It was the Grey High School of the townships. Everyone wanted to be there. Under the ANC, that school is [now] destroyed’, he said.
He said the DA is a project in which blacks, Coloureds, whites, and Indians can gather in one room and have a conversation.
‘I want my children to live in a country where the colour of their skin is not going to be a factor for them to compete in life’, he said.
He reiterated his call for the DA to find a connection with the majority of South Africans.
‘We need a DA that has feelings for the people. The DA has all the systems in place, but the people want a party they can relate with and talk to them.’