SA still a nation of ‘insiders and outsiders’: Maimane

03 February 2018 - 15:22 By Timeslive
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“Our country is still defined by the chasm between those for whom freedom is real and opportunity is accessible, said Mmusi Maimane.
“Our country is still defined by the chasm between those for whom freedom is real and opportunity is accessible, said Mmusi Maimane.
Image: MOELETSI MABE

South Africa is still a nation of “insiders and outsiders”‚ where there are those who claim to care about opportunity but who see only the opportunity for plunder and theft‚ says Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane.

Speaking at the at the party’s KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Congress on Saturday‚ he said there were also those who spoke of care for the downtrodden and the excluded‚ but the country was still fundamentally the same as it had always been.

“Our country is still defined by the chasm between those for whom freedom is real and opportunity is accessible.

“And those for whom life is largely decided for them by where they are born and what they look like.

“We are still a nation of insiders and outsiders‚” Maimane said.

“We hear those who claim to really care about freedom‚ but who do nothing to dismantle the legacy of apartheid education which still imprisons young‚ black people.

“We hear those who claim to really care about fairness‚ but who enforce a kind of new job reservation for their friends and connected few.

“We hear those who claim to really care about opportunity‚ but who see only the opportunity for plunder and theft‚” the DA leader added.

He spoke about the party’s gains in the last election and the metros and other municipalities the party now controlled.

“Some of these we govern in coalition‚ demonstrating again that South Africa works best in partnership. Our wonderful country brings together disparate histories and peoples under one Constitution. We must foster this unity and be proud of it‚” he said.

He said there was honour in working together and finding common ground.

But he added: “Some want to break down this compact‚ they want us to regress‚ they destroy schools and hark back to a time where political slogans were about a threat of violence and murder.”

Maimane said this would not happen in the DA.

“I don’t care who finds it inconvenient or unpopular‚ but as long as I am leading this party we will be the flag-bearers for a non-racial united South Africa where all share in the sunlight. Not just in words but in deeds. Sisonke.”

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