The theme of the incompetence of Africans was evident in the DA's response to the electricity outages in the Western Cape, where they tacitly blamed highly-paid black managers for the outages the city was facing. A DA councillor, Ian Neilson, was quoted in The Cape Times of 22 February 2006 as saying:
There may be numerous competent people at mid-management and lower levels who knew something was needed and said so, but the problem is that in most cases the new managers no longer have the depth of technical understanding of the problems that Cape Town faces now - three years of ANC government with one year of low-tech senior managers have led to inadequate performance.
A "new manager" is a code for African managers, all of whom, according to Neilson, lack the competence to undertake the running of a city like Cape Town.
The DA used, in particular, the allocation of land at Big Bay and the issue of Jewellery City to claim the presence of corruption in the ANC-led metro council, yet it was the DA that sold the Big Bay land without tender to a specific company below its real value and in disregard of the black economic empowerment policy in 2001.
The DA used crude radio advertising and pamphlets in their last campaign to claim that coloureds were not white enough during apartheid and that now they are not black enough in the free and democratic South Africa. They mixed their message with a sustained attack on the ID in the last by- elections.
I want to pose three questions. As far as I understand, when the mayor wrote a letter to Minister Lindiwe Sisulu on 5 June, the letter was received by the Minister's office at 10h00 or 10h03. But then between 12h00 and 12h07 the media had received the letter. Is this ethical? The Minister never had a chance to reply; where are the ethics of the DA? Instead, the mayor discussed these issues through the media.
The second thing is the issue of the consortium that did not meet the deadlines. The tender was opened publicly. Who is this consortium whose tender was accepted after the deadline? If the DA can just give us the names we would appreciate that, instead of misleading this House.
We have three types of units: Phase 1 has one bedroom and a bathroom; and Phase 2 has two bedrooms and a bathroom, and three bedrooms and a bathroom. The question that must be answered is: Did we get value for our money? Some of our backyard dwellers will be much better off financially by moving to the N2 Gateway than staying in the backyards and the slums.
I want to end my speech now and I want the hon Watson to listen. Employ the entire nation as if you are employing a single person. Employ them and give them actual tasks. Motivate them with benefits. Do not harm them. That's what the ANC wants. Employ the nation like one person. I thank you, Chairperson. [Applause.]