Food 'joke' sparks latest race row in Cape Town DA

24 March 2022 - 12:36
By Aphiwe Deklerk
The DA in the City of Cape Town is embroiled in a racial storm after its deputy chief whip Errol Anstey allegedly made racist remarks to fellow party councillor Thandeka Gqada during a caucus session lunch break. File photo.
Image: Gallo Images The DA in the City of Cape Town is embroiled in a racial storm after its deputy chief whip Errol Anstey allegedly made racist remarks to fellow party councillor Thandeka Gqada during a caucus session lunch break. File photo.

The DA in the City of Cape Town is embroiled in a racial storm after its deputy chief whip Errol Anstey allegedly made racist remarks to fellow party councillor Thandeka Gqada during a caucus session lunch break.

In a leaked e-mail that was sent to all members of the DA caucus in the City of Cape Town, Gqada expressed outrage at Anstey's apparent racist conduct last week after he told her to go back to the Eastern Cape because her “food is there”.

Gqada said Anstey made the racial slur after she enquired whether it was lunch time when she noticed other colleagues “going down to the dining hall”.

“Errol Anstey responded that my food is in the Eastern Cape, I must go back to the Eastern Cape because my food is there,” she writes.

Gqada said she wanted the matter to be discussed at the next meeting of the DA caucus in the City of Cape Town as the party “prides itself as a nonracial organisation”.

TimesLIVE has also seen responses to Gqada's e-mail from other DA caucus members who expressed support for her calls for the matter to be discussed, with some saying it should be escalated to the national leadership.

Gqada said Anstey responded when she confronted him by saying his remarks were meant to be “a joke”.

Anstey and Gqada could be not be reached for comment at the time of publication but their reactions will be included in this story as soon as they are obtained.

Gqada, who is a former MP and former mayoral committee member in the City of Cape Town, now feels she no longer belongs in the DA's caucus.

“I am writing this e-mail to get the facts of what really happened between me and Errol. I am also writing this e-mail to get help because I am battling to deal with this situation. I could not sleep last night. I feel humiliated and my rights being violated by the deputy chief whip.

“I feel indeed that I do not belong here. What I am going through at the moment, I wish none of my colleagues can go through this because it is not a nice feeling,” she said.

The former MP added Anstey had told her that he made the statement as a joke.

Errol is a senior councillor, the deputy chief whip. It was wrong of him to make insensitive comments like this, especially as the DA prides itself as a nonracial organisation
DA councillor Thandeka Gqada

“I was shocked with his response [that she must go get lunch in Eastern Cape] and I said to him be careful because this statement can blow out of proportion. As we were going to lunch, I was getting angry. I could not stop thinking [about] what he said to me.”

She said she decided to further engage him during lunch time while Anstey was having a conversation with mayco member Rob Quintas.

“I said to him, I did not like what you said outside. His response was, what's the issue, because you are here now getting your food. He said he was just joking,” said Gqada.

She said she eventually left the venue without eating.

Gqada said Anstey stuck to his guns that he was joking and had shown “his arrogance and defensiveness”  in the presence of three other councillors.  

“Errol is a senior councillor, the deputy chief whip. It was wrong of him to make insensitive comments like this, especially as the DA prides itself as a nonracial organisation.

“I want to register my disappointment in him and I propose this matter be discussed openly in a caucus meeting. This kind of behaviour is unacceptable from a senior councillor who [is] supposed to protect everybody.”

TimesLIVE

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