‘If you're a black person still defending the DA, you are like a rented black,' says Thulas Nxesi
Image: Jairus Mmutle
“If you are a black person still defending the DA, you are like a rented black.”
These are the words of employment and labour minister Thulas Nxesi which parliament has been asked to act against.
The 2023/2024 department of employment and labour budget vote debate in parliament descended into chaos this week after DA MP Michael Cardo referred to the ANC as a “so-called party of liberation” during his speech criticising Nxesi's department.
Cardo’s utterances ruffled the feathers of ANC members and Nxesi, in his responses to the debate, spent most of his time reacting to the comments, saying they were “overboard”.
“We have been too nice to you and now your tails are up in the air because we chose peace instead of war. What you are trying to do now? You are forcing us to be more radical,” he said.
Nxesi said the DA was enjoying the gains of democracy that was “brought” by the governing party and yet it was undermining the ANC.
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“There will come a time when you will regret this resistance. Our people have been too tolerant on many issues, including the issues of land and empowerment we are talking about,” Nxesi said.
He called African people supporting the opposition party “rented black[s]”.
Cardo said: “The ANC might have inherited a terrible legacy from apartheid, but through a combination of corruption, cadre deployment and cack-handedness, it has compounded [rather than conquered] the sins of the past.”
House chairperson Madala David Ntombela was requested to listen to the minister's recorded comments, scrutinise and act against Nxesi.
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