DA leader John Steenhuisen has received backlash after using a “drunkard” analogy while criticising the appointment of 4,000 crime wardens, an initiative introduced by Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi.
Last month, justice and correctional services minister Ronald Lamola recommended the crime wardens be given the legal status of provincial traffic officers. This received mixed reactions after the Sunday Times highlighted that wardens were involved in 22 crashes with their new BMWs within months.
Speaking at a party campaign event in Soshanguve, Pretoria at the weekend, Steenhuisen made critical remarks about the wardens and ruffled feathers.
“What did Panyaza Lesufi do? He took your tax money to buy ill-fitting Pep Stores uniforms for untrained cadres and pretended they were ‘crime wardens’. What kind of person pulls a drunkard out of a shebeen, gives him a uniform and a weapon, and then unleashes them onto a community?” he said.
“What did Panyaza Lesufi do? He took your tax money to buy ill-fitting PEP Stores uniforms for untrained cadres and pretended that they were “crime wardens.” What kind of person pulls a drunkard out of a shebeen, gives him a uniform and a weapon, and then unleashes them onto a…
— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) January 27, 2024
The quote was posted on the party’s social media platforms and on X and gained almost
3-million views by Tuesday.
Many people were unhappy with his analogy and described it as degrading to the crime wardens. Some conceded the appointment of the crime wardens was “ill-informed” but said Steenhuisen was being classist and discriminated against poor people who buy clothes at Pep outlets.
Here are some reactions from social media:
My cousin is one of the recruits and I assure you that he’s no drunkard. He is also no cadre and doesn’t even drink alcohol. He went through the training program and passed the training test. The PEP stores uniform he wears has changed his and our family lives for the better.…
— Thabo Makwakwa (@ThaboMakwakwa) January 28, 2024
"drunkard out of a shebeen" - source please. Because if this statement is not factual, it's just degrading and mean.
— Jamie Hills (@JamieHillsCT) January 27, 2024
Lesufi's #crimewarden 'intervention' was ill-informed & is bound to fail.
— Jack Devnarain (@JackD157) January 28, 2024
But this post is clearly divisive in its racist undertone. Its reference to Pep Stores & shebeen patrons is intended to ridicule people for their race & circumstances.
Is this your appeal to black voters?!
Though I prefer DA over ANC, this comment doesn't sit well with me. Is this supposed to be a stereotype of Black and Colored people? Nothing wrong with PEP Stores, I remember my mom would take me there for school uniform as a kid when I still lived in Africa. Its economic…
— Mz. Bruna ♒ 🇱🇸 🇱🇹 🇿🇦 ♒ (@bruna_giovanni) January 27, 2024
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