Anti-drug posters a 'De Lille ego trip'
The ANC has attacked a new anti-drug campaign fronted by Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille, saying it was nothing more than an effort to boost her profile ahead of a provincial leadership contest in October.
The leader of the ANC in the Western Cape legislature, Lynne Brown, said the posters displayed the image of De Lille and the DA's party "colours" more prominently than the anti-drug message.
But De Lille's spokesman Solly Malatsi called Brown's criticism misplaced, likening it to a "do-nothing" approach to the scourge of drug abuse in Cape Town.
"The posters she refers to are but one part of a broader campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of drug abuse and reach out to those who need the city's help to overcome their addictions.
"[The posters] display toll-free numbers that addicts or families and friends of addicts can dial to seek help from the city's rehabilitation centres," said Malatsi.
De Lille was not available to comment as she is out of the country on holiday.
Malatsi said Brown's "hyperventilated" concerns about the costs of the campaign's posters smacked of hypocrisy.
"If she cares as much as she claims she does about taxpayers' money, she would be well advised to persuade her colleagues in the national government to stop squandering hundreds of thousands of rand on self-promotional adverts that have nothing to do with service delivery," said Malatsi.
But Brown insisted the posters showed De Lille' s megalomania "in its worst form".
"The ANC minister's messages are never in black, green or gold - they're in the colours of the state," said Brown.
She suggested that De Lille was being primed to take over the reins from current Western Cape DA leader Theuns Botha.
So far, the only person who has thrown his hat into the provincial leadership contest is Cultural Affairs and Sports MEC Ivan Meyer, currently the DA's deputy federal chairman and a close ally of Botha.
Join the discussion & Debate
Anti-drug posters a 'De Lille ego trip'
For Commenters Consideration | Please stick to the subject matterCOMMENTS [24]
Theye
Posted 319 days agodisillusionedstill
Since the DA took over from the ANC, things have got worse.
Now the army?
The DA tried setting the gangs' turfs which has failed.
SAPS are not required to maintain the absurd DA - Gangster alliance.
RSA.MommaCyndi
SAPS is required to do their job. They aren't. Gangs can only survive in an environment of lawlessness and (surprise) SAPS is the first line of the law
disillusionedstill
SAPS does not have to pander to an agreement between the DA and Gangsters.
The DA tried a Chicago type remedy by talking to the Gangs and setting turf boundaries.
Now the expected has happened and SAPS has had a chunk-full of the DA effectively taking the law into its own hands.
The two players are JP Smit and Dan Plato - useless wannabe demagogues.
RSA.MommaCyndi
Nobody is asking the police to ‘pander’ to anything.
If a person is shot, the police are supposed to go there immediately, take statements, catch the shooter, compile a case and get the sod put in prison. They are not supposed to wait 4 hours, make excuses, lose the docket and forget to investigate anything.
MusaMahlangu
Posted 319 days agoDday007
disillusionedstill
The DA actually now employs an advertising agency to paper over its failures.
It is no better or worse than the ANC but inasmuch as substance abuse is concerned, things are indeed worse.
The problem is partly socio-economic but the ivory-tower DA uses it as a marketing tool rather than getting a GPS to take it to the apartheid concentration-type ghettos which it is perpetuating.
Romy
Maybe you can explain to us exactly what the ANC did to improve the conditions of the impoverished communities in Cape Town when they were in charge? After all, they had much more time than the DA, who has only been in control since 2009. As for the problem of drug abuse getting worse under DA control, that is nonsense because it is in fact worsening all over the country, not just in the Western Cape. To quote Nelson Medeiros, Operations Manager at Pretoria's Crossroads Recovery Centre: "In the past, most of our tik patients came from the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape, but the majority are now from Gauteng. Gauteng is emerging as one of the bigger producers of tik". Gauteng is under ANC control, isn't it? Wasn't it the DA supporters who recently marched in the Windsor East area near Johannesburg where drug abuse is rife, mobilising for the establishment of a specialized anti-drugs unit in the area? Wasn't Helen Zille arrested in September 2007 when she took part in an anti-drugs march in Mitchell's Plain, even though it was a legal protest and they were handing out anti-drug awareness pamphlets?
You also conveniently forget that policing and the criminal justice system is under the control of National Government, and it is primarily their responsibility to control the crime situation in the Western Cape, but they are not doing that effectively. Nathi Mthethwa is also not prepared to co-operate with the WC Government, and seeks to prevent them from implementing any of their proposed initiatives to fight the scourge of drugs, gangsterism and spiralling crime. He is also against the reinstatement of the SAPS Specialized Gangsterism & Drugs Unit which has been very effective in the past, but his hypocrisy is evident in his continuation of the VIP Protection Unit. So it seems that political expediency is more important than alleviating the crime situation in these communities and saving lives. It disgusts me.
RSA.MommaCyndi
Posted 319 days agoIf the DA are putting their name on the poster then they must pay for the posters. The tax coffers are not supposed to be a free advertising fund.
Every little bit helps but until such time as Nathi decides that his ego is not more important than the people being terrorised by gangs, then the situation is unlikely to change
Romy
There is no DA logo or reference to the DA on the poster. On the bottom right hand side there is the small official logo of the City of Cape Town, which is not political in any way because all political parties are represented on the CT City Council. The poster does bear the face of Patricia De lille, but she is the Mayor of Cape Town and the person who is responsible for launching the 'Be Smart Don't Start' anti-drug awareness campaign, and as such she is the public face of the campaign and she is well known in the affected communities. More importantly, the poster prominently displays the details and 24-hour help-line number of the City's anti-drug abuse centres. Lynne Brown's criticism is unfounded and potentially damaging to the campaign. Personally, I feel that she should rather do something constructive by adding her voice to the call for the reinstatement of the very effective SAPS Specialized Drugs & Gangsterism Unit.
disillusionedstill
TBWA is promoting the DA at the taxpayers' expense.
Zille was proven by the Public Protector to be a maladministrator.
RSA.MommaCyndi
It is hard to figure out from the article if the argument had any merit at all. It appears it doesn't.
Had to smile about the 'rap' tune that De Lille did for the program :)
Romy
@ disillusionedstill.
Are you Marius Fransman in drag?
Romy
Relevance to the drugs & gangsterism issue? But since you brought it up, the contract is for the City of Cape Town, not the DA. Helen Zille was cleared of any involvement in the contract.
As far as maladministration is concerned, it is interesting that Lynne Brown, Mcibesi Skwatcha, Max Ozinsky et al acknowledged that there was massive corruption under the Ebrahim Rasool administration when the ANC were in control of Cape Town, and they had to engage in a clean up operation. For example an amount of about R500 million in irregular tenders awarded by the Dept of Transport & Public Works was investigated by the Treasury.
danny.archer3
Posted 319 days agoRich.
Bono
Posted 319 days ago― George Bernard Shaw
The reason the DA is always in the news and on TL is because they are pro-active and don’t sit on their hands. The DA faces huge challenges in the WC and any action or move by them is severely criticised and belittled at by Tony, Lynne Brown et al and their band of ANC merry men.
The ANC will NEVER support any DA initiative as they are morally bankrupt and have no fresh ideas of their own.
Smaiza
Even DA never supported any ANC initiatives. SO WHAT?
Bono
right or wrong, they supported the Youth Bill and got trashed by COSATU hooligans in the process!!!
If the ANC brings fresh ideas to the table, trust me the whole country will support them not only the DA but at the moment all they can focus on is the continious in-fighting and power struggles.
Smaiza
Posted 319 days agoRSA.MommaCyndi
Posted 318 days agoRomy
ILoveTheTruth
Posted 318 days agoI agree with it fully, as it explains the root causes of gangsterism and drug abuse.
Drug campaigns such as this one will do absolutely nothing to rid us of this scourge. The DA knows that, the ANC knows that and any person with two brain cells knows that. It is more a campaign for votes than anything else. Some DA members will disagree with my statement, but I implore you to look at the past, present and future from an objective point of view.
Politicians are window dressing. The real policy makers and controllers of society are hidden from public scrutiny. So next time if you vote for a politician or political party, be aware that these people will never solve any of the real problems that society faces. The "system" or capitalism is the real destroyer of human lives. Sadly though, some people have the idea that this is the best system for human advancement, failing to realize the evils it perpetuates.
So, the DA vs ANC mentality on these issues, is a waste of your energy. The DA could not care less, the ANC even less and the real "culprits" are smiling as their agenda is slowly but surely unfolding towards it's peak, the culling of the human race.
MusaMahlangu
Posted 318 days ago