DA leader, Mmusi Maimane, said that the painful legacy ofcolonialism and apartheid is still with us today.
In speech notes for his Human Rights Day remarks, Maimane saidthat colonialism and apartheid “still impacts the way that most South Africanslive, cut off from economic opportunity, geographically dislocated and badlyeducated.”
“Colonialism and Apartheid stripped South Africans of theirdignity. Slavery, forced labour, displacement, violent subjugation, racialclassification with its humiliating tests, making people think they wereinferior because of the colour of their skin, industrialised exploitation —these things are all, and much else besides, the legacy of those systems ofrepression and exploitation,” Maimane said.
“Now there are some people who believe that this was the priceof development and infrastructure. Well, if this was the price of development,then I say that this price was too high,” he said.
“Development that is forced upon a country under threat ofviolence is not human progress. Development achieved by free exchange with theglobal community, harnessing the best of human ingenuity and fostering a unityof purpose - that is the development we desire”
Maimane said because the DA stands for individual freedom, itcan never condone any aspect of oppression. “The DA will never stop defendinghuman rights, at home or abroad. Oppression has no place in the world we livein.”
“We will continue to build bridges to unite South Africans,bringing them together when everyone else is seeking to divide them. Madibadreamed of a country united around a common South African identity, where SouthAfrica would truly belong to all who live in it, both black and white,” he said.
Maimane said “we are now the only party that still believes inand works for this vision” saying the ANC has long abandoned it, they too seekto divide us against each other.”
