Sent to The Star, Johannesburg, Mon
19/10/2015 08:46. Published Tuesday 27 October 2015 as “DA defends democracy
today as in the past”.
Kelly
Sithole, in The Star Letters, October 19 (“Right decision to teach history”)
makes a powerful argument for the teaching of history, and does so by
demonstrating his (or her) abysmal grasp of that history.
Sithole’s
letter shows the danger of parroting the simplified ANC line as if it were
history.
The
DA traces its lineage back to the Progressive Party. That party’s first
(and, for many years, only) MP, Helen Suzman, was probably the person most
responsible for making sure that Nelson Mandela did not die in prison. By
relentlessly exposing the conditions on Robben Island, which she saw first-hand,
she forced the apartheid government to improve them.
When
Helen Suzman announced her retirement, she received a letter from Mandela
saying: “The consistency with which you defended the basic values of freedom
and the rule of law over the last three decades has earned you the admiration
of many South Africans.”
This
defence of democracy and the rule of law continues in the DA today.
When
a National Party minister accused Helen Suzman of asking parliamentary
questions that embarrassed South Africa, she replied: 'It is not my questions
that embarrass South Africa; it is your answers.'
This
tradition of asking the hard questions continues today with the DA Opposition
in Parliament, in the Provinces, and in Metro and Town councils, where we
expose corruption, nepotism, and waste.
Where
the DA has a chance to govern, our commitment to performance contracts and open
tender processes means that we deliver. By the Government’s own
statistics, all voters, but particularly the poor, are better off with the DA.
