Home PodcastInayet Wadee DA march to Luthuli House as a last resort

DA march to Luthuli House as a last resort

by Luqmaan Rawat
The DA and their supporters marching to Luthuli House Photo JacarandaFM

Johannesburg – Hundreds of Democratic Alliance (DA) supporters marched to Luthuli House on Wednesday to express their dissatisfaction with loadshedding and the ruling party. DA leader, John Steenhuisen, intensified his calls for the country to stand up and vote the African National Congress out.

While the DA felt the march was a success and their message was heard, analysts believe it was nothing more than a publicity stunt. Questions have been raised as to why the DA marched to Luthuli House and not Eskom. Many of the decisions that led to the country having loadshedding took place there, said Haseena Ismail, DA Member of Parliament. It was only right for the protest to happen there.

“Every decision taken with regard to state-owned entities, and most especially Eskom, the decisions were taken at Luthuli House. It’s no use going to Eskom. It’s no use going to any other place. The place where all the wrong decisions were taken, and that’s the effect on the country right now, is purely at the feet of the ANC and that’s why we went to Luthuli House.”

 

Cadre deployments the reason for the crisis in the country

During his speech, Steenhuisen called Luthuli House “ground zero” of South Africa’s loadshedding crisis. The ANC has been criticised for their cadre deployments, which Ismail feels is the reason for loadshedding. The ANC’s mismanagement and appointing people not suitable for the job has landed the country where it is today.

“We’ve actually seen minutes of ANC meetings where they incorporated cadre deployment as part of the strategy. Cadre deployment is not going to take anybody anywhere. We need to have people fit for purpose going forward so that we don’t have mismanagement. We don’t have the issues that we are facing right now. Each and every department is mismanaged and we are reaching a state of crisis in the country.”

 

A message to the ANC

The march consisted of not only DA supporters but also various other leaders and this, to Ismail, indicates how frustrated the nation is. With leaders from various organisations joining the march, the message of how frustrated they are was made clear.

“It wasn’t a political thing. It was a message to the ANC that we’ve had enough. This country cannot bear anymore and we’re not going to take it anymore. I mean looking at the increases, we are expected to pay 19% more and then another 12% more. This is unfair, this is really unrealistic, especially when ministers are not going through the same as what all of us are going through.” 

With Minister Patrica de Lille giving other ministers generators at their homes, Ismail questioned what that means for the rest of South Africa.

“That means the rest of the country is not important. Should old age homes suffer? We have so many homes where we have old aged people and they need oxygen. Education is suffering. How many businesses have to close? How many people have to now be laid off? Ultimately this is a warning to the ANC that it’s enough.”

According to Ismail, the DA as well as others, have tried several other ways to have their voices heard by the ANC. The march was a last resort and they are hoping that the ANC has received the message loud and clear. For now, they will wait and see if their message is heard, if not, they will ensure that come 2024 the ANC is no longer the ruling party.

To hear what Haseena Ismail had to say about the strong worded posters at the march as well as the solutions presented to the ANC, you can listen to the podcast here

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