Leader of the Good Party Patricia De Lille has become the latest to call out the Democratic Alliance and its leader John Steenhuisen for criticising fellow opposition parties accusing them of obsessing with winning elections in the Western Cape when they could be focusing their resources as well as energies campaigning in provinces where the ANC and the EFF are seen to be strong.
The likes of Rise Mzansi and Action SA have already taken to social media to slam the official opposition which they accuse of bullying among others.
The veteran politician said Steehuisen’s went all out against Steehuisen calling him an uninformed fool whose work experience is only as a dog shampoo salesman.
“He forgets that from 1948 until 1994 the majority of people in South Africa, coloureds, blacks and Indians didn’t even have a vote. They (whites) had votes alone now today he’s got the audacity to come and say ‘don’t come here because this is working’ but let me tell you, I have never ever taken Steenhuisen serious. He sounds like a secondhand car salesman or a salesman that was selling dog shampoo because that is what he used to do before, “said De Lille during a visit to the Legends Barbershop and Training Centre in Johannesburg on Monday.
De Lille said Steenhuisen whom he describes as a ‘fool’, does not have the basic understanding of democracy and is disrespectful of voters.
“He doesn’t understand democracy so I don’t care what they say, the people will decide, and the people of South Africa are not stupid. Like there’s failures in the rest of the country we’ve got a lot of failures in the Western Cape. He just doesn’t see it because the people who are suffering there and as the Good Party we want to stop the suffering, the people who are suffering in the Western Cape are the people of colour so I don’t take this fool seriously, really,” said De Lille.
The DA has identified among others, the EFF as its “enemy number one” and De Lille said the stance is problematic as it makes politics toxic.
“We’ve had enough hatred in our history. We come from a very sad past. No political party is an enemy of the other and therefore you must hate the enemy. Any political party is your opponent, but you disrespect the voters because the voters can choose any political party of their choice because democracy is about contestation of ideas,” said De Lille.
Comments by the DA leader have also cause tensions within the so-called “multi-party charter”, a pre-election pact aimed at unseating the ANC and preventing the EFF from rising to power with the likes of Action SA accusing the DA of juniorising its allies.