The DA in the Eastern Cape said it had reported Social Development MEC, Nancy Sihlawyi, to the EC Legislature's Ethics Committee for racism and human rights violations.
This followed a report in the Daily Dispatch that Sihlwayi had allegedly instructed the head of Youth Development in her department, Masiza Mazizi, not to invite whites to a youth event that was held in Port Alfred in September.
The newspaper said of the 200 youngsters there, six were white and as a result Sihlwayi's office had written to Mazizi to explain why her instruction had been ignored.
In a statement Thursday, Mvenya said Sihlwayi's instruction to exclude white children from a government youth event was "nothing but pure racism."
The DA MPL said that there was no place for racial segregation after 21-years of democracy and she now wants the Legislature's Ethics Committee to investigate and take action.
Mvenya also called on the ANC to suspend Sihlwayi.
The Department of Social Development issued a statement in response to the orginal story earlier this month.
The full statement from Director-General, Stanley Khanyile, follows:
The Head of Department of Social Development Mr S. Khanyile wants to reassure the Eastern Cape community that the Department, as champions of social development, will always uphold its mandate of building a caring society for the protection of the poor and the vulnerable.
As a Department we recognize and believe that as per the Republic of South Africa Constitution, all citizens are equal and any discriminatory action or attitude is against the provisions of the constitution. We have not done that in the past and we are certainly not going to do that now.
With regard to the Provincial Youth Camps and Dialogues held in September 2015 in Port Alfred, the Department can confirm that they were organized in the spirit of promoting social cohesion and nation building, informed by the demographics and the rural nature of the Province. It is a reality that as a Department we are always biased towards rural, vulnerable and poor communities in our interventions.
The youth camps were therefore by no means designed to discriminate against young white South Africans. As a Department we want to commit that young people from poor and vulnerable white communities will always benefit from the programmes that intend to promote social cohesion and national building, at the same promoting knowledge and skills development.
It is against this background that we want to remove any perception that white minority have no significant role in nation building. It is regrettable that certain assertions may have been taken out of context.
As a Department we have programmes that can benefit every citizen irrespective of any colour or race such as the provisioning of Early Childhood Development, Youth Development, Social Welfare services, poverty reduction and Social Work Bursary. We will certainly continue to implement these programmes.
