ANC knows the people have had enough

The days of pulling the wool over the eyes of the voter are over

- HANIFF HOOSEN

THESE are desperate times for the ANC and its spokesmen. With little to brag about, they spend their hours trying to stereotype and assassinate the character of their opponents.

A classic example of this new genre of low-grade ‘journalism’ was recently published by The Mercury. In a hatchet-job masquerading as commentary, one Mhlabunzima Memela resorts to schoolboy name-calling under the heading ‘DAs circus of double standards and political deadwood.

He claims that DA leader John Steenhuisen is wrong to contend that the ANC is ‘finished, something that citizens suffering under the compounding corrosive effects of State Capture, watching the Madlanga Commission or carrying the burden of the serial failure of service delivery have understood for some time. Although disdainful of the DA, Memela is very interested in who it chooses as candidates for mayor in the forthcoming local government election.

What he does not understand is that the DAs candidates for mayor don't see the municipality as a feeding trough for cadres. We hold ourselves to a higher standard. It’s a competitive process based not on who you know, but how competent you are. Like the Springbok rugby team, where the players know they are the best for their position regardless of their background, the DA is a meritocracy, not a club of entitled cadres.