Madam Deputy Speaker, the so-called research conducted by the trade union Solidarity, which claims that over a million jobs currently held by coloureds in the Western Cape and 300 000 jobs held by Indians will be lost as a result of the Employment Equity Bill, is a dangerous political game that is carefully designed to foment tensions ahead of local government elections.
We are, therefore, not surprised that the DA was quick to publicly express support for the union's inflammatory statement, whose mission is to cause a racial rift amongst African, coloured and Indian communities, particularly in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. It is reckless to play racial politics regarding and spread falsehoods and distortions about something as important and very close to the hearts of ordinary South Africans as the issue of employment.
The Employment Equity Bill seeks to increase the participation of the historically marginalised communities, which include Africans, coloureds and Indians, in the country's mainstream economy. Africans and coloureds are amongst the country's economically underrepresented communities, an anomaly that this Bill seeks to correct. It is unthinkable that the ANC, which for almost 100 years led the struggle for freedom from the shackles of apartheid and colonial oppression, can today seek to disadvantage the same people it liberated.
As the governing party in the Western Cape, the DA should be working towards uniting the province's diverse communities instead of dividing them along racial lines for narrow political gain. The Western Cape today remains the only racially divided province, 17 years into democracy, largely because of these kinds of racially divisive campaigns and policies of the DA.
We strongly condemn this dangerous propaganda which is aimed at stirring fear and panic amongst coloured and Indian communities on the eve of the elections. In truth, the interests of the DA lie only in those white males who constitute 70% of the economy and senior management, and not in the coloureds and Indians. As we have seen, upon assuming power in the city council and in the province, they expelled coloureds and blacks from senior management positions in the city council and the province. Thank you. [Applause.]