DA pamphlet featuring Mandela and Suzman embracing angers ANC: report

A DA pamphlet showing former president Nelson Mandela and activist Helen Suzman embracing has angered the ANC, it was reported on Thursday.

African National Congress Western Cape leader Marius Fransman told the Cape Times the pamphlet, which was part of the “Know your DA” campaign, was a “cynical and opportunistic exercise in propaganda”.

He said the party should not have used either of the leaders.

“It is debatable whether or not her [Suzman’s] role can be claimed as revolutionary. More importantly, of having any bearing on the values of the [Democratic Alliance] as a party today,” he said.

The pamphlet shows the pair embracing, with the wording: “We played our part in opposing apartheid”. It refers to Suzman (an anti-apartheid activist who died in 2009) as a “DA founder”.

Suzman was a member of the Progressive Party which became the Progressive Federal Party and later merged with other parties to become the DA.

The DA’s communications director Gavin Davis told the newspaper it had every right to use the image and to take ownership of Suzman’s role in ending apartheid.

“The values she stood for are defended and promoted by the DA today.... Nelson Mandela is a global icon and national hero. He is not the property of any political party.”