DA's hypocrisy knows no bounds

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa may have to think twice before including DA leader John Steenhuisen in official visits after his poor performance characterised by political posturing  during the heated Oval Office meeting in the US last week. 

Ahead of his visit to the US as part of Ramaphosa’s delegation, Steenhuisen promised that the highest issues on his priority list would be securing trade relations between the US and SA, particularly in agriculture, to protect jobs, grow the economy and expand employment opportunities.

“This delegation to Washington DC represents all South Africans, who have entrusted us to put the shared national interests, and desire for economic growth and job creation first, ahead of any party, or ideological positions.

As a proud member of this GNU delegation, I will endeavor to ensure every effort is made to mend, and improve relations between the US and SA.”   

When presented with a rare chance to do so, Steenhuisen bungled it spectacularly.

 Instead of dispelling Trump’s false narrative of white genocide in South Africa, he continued his party’s tired claim that there were farm murders here, indirectly confirming the fake news that farmers were specifically targeted.

How affirming would it have been for him to inform the world that Julius Malema’s chants were nothing more than that; and quite frankly the courts have taken the position that they remain part of our painful history. 

But he would not dare say this because it would be against every effort his party had made to win back the Afrikaner vote from the Freedom Front Plus.

 Steenhuisen, with the help of his colleagues in the DA, just has to study the recent crime stats to see why his argument of farm murders is problematic.  

A breakdown of the stats shows that only six murders linked to farms were recorded in the first quarter of 2025, with five of the victims being black.

Compare that with the murders taking place daily- not over three months- in Mitchells Plain, Manenberg, Nyanga, Inanda, Umlazi and Mamelodi, then you see why it's difficult arguing against criticism that  Steenhuisen and the DA are hypocrites.