The opposition Democratic Alliance has accused the ruling African National Congress party of failure to live up to former president Nelson Mandela’s “dream of a united South Africa.”
Addressing the media in Johannesburg where the DA unveiled its latest billboard in the central business district, opposition leader Mmusi Maimane slammed the ANC, saying the party “still believes it is liberating black South Africans from whites.”
“They (ANC) must be able to say they have honoured Nelson Mandela’s dream. I think Nelson Mandela would not have stood up for state capture, would not have stood up for a corrupt organisation (like the ANC),” Maimane said.
The young opposition leader also slammed the ANC’s candidate lists for in-coming members of parliament and the provincial legislatures.
“When you look at the ANC’s lists, you’ve got to ask yourself a question: are they lists that reflect all the people of this country? Or are they lists that are bringing back criminals to parliament?
“Is this what Nelson Mandela was all about?” Maimane said, adding that the ANC, with its conduct as “liberation movement,” has divided South Africans.
“Let them show us with action how they have preserved the legacy and the vision of Nelson Mandela,” Maimane said, adding that the ANC has failed to build an inclusive economy and this has led to the creation of 10-million jobless South Africans on the party’s watch.
South Africans are due to go to polls on May 8.
NM/jn/APA