By Thato Choma
It’s been a while now and Helen Zille is still being crucified for her “reckless” use of words on national television and the twitter streets. In March this year she referred to Eastern Cape pupils, who’ve moved to the Western Cape for a better education, as refugees. Zille made this statement after visiting a school in the province that had many Eastern Cape pupils. This left the ruling party, ANC, in bad humour and led to a civil twitter war and public disturbance. She has since apologised for the remark.
Of course there are people who think Zille is blameless and accurate in her statement, hence there’s no need to apologise. She even comes to her “tragic, depressing conclusion” that the ANC is as interested in denying people their right to education as Verwoerd was, and people agree with this statement. Other people feel we should just move on. After all, it’s just a word, right?
I have reviewed the story, walked the twitter streets but the one thing I cannot overlook is Zille’s inability to recognise it as a serious matter. She is dissing people and being sarcastic about a matter that concerns people at large. Surely we want a president that shares our concerns. But it is time to lay off Zille and pay attention to the real issue — that is, the education crisis in the country.
One thing SA is very good at is pointing fingers, talking, claiming rights but not being accountable and taking action. I am not saying we must overlook matters that arise. But we must not dwell on things that hamper productivity because actions have the loudest voices in the end. After all mini-sagas will blow over but the real issues will remain.
Choma is a full-time student and co-runs a volunteer association.
…. and the health crisis and the crime crisis and the electricity crisis and the roads crisis and the media-gagging crisis and the inept municipality crisis and the Youth League crisis and the in-fighting within the police crisis and the courts crisis and the prisons crisis and the SAA crisis and the mining crisis and the land crisis and the farm murder crisis and the fraudulent CV crisis and the road accident crisis and the SABC crisis and the rail crisis and the immigration crisis and the increasingly pissed-off voters crisis. But Helen must STOP dissing people and being sarcastic. Naughty Helen! Give the guys a break! They’ve only been in power for 18 years!
Good heavens!
Will this not ever go away? She didn’t call them ‘refugees’. She called them ‘educational refugees’. The qualifier entirely alters the meaning of the noun. It’s called the creative use of language, and is a sign of a mature grasp of reality.
Choose any euphemism: EC pupils are still not receiving quality education, therefore many of them choose to …………… to the WC.
Debating the term Zille chose does not change a thing. Actually, an inappropriate word might well have served to bring the problem in the public eye much more effectively than the usual ANC hot air.
I think it is time you moved on too….
@Gavin Foster
You left out the crisis of uncontrolled rampant corruption in the ANC leadership itself
… not to mention the housing crisis; and the crisis in the Cape regarding drug-related gang wars in which children are being killed in broad daylight (which necessitated Helen Zille asking for assistance from the Defence Force – who apparently only do anything when they are illegally striking and running rampage); and the crisis of Xenophobia (Somali shopkeepers were booted out of their shops and threatened yet again yesterday); and the crisis of violent protest marches; and the crisis of child abuse and rape and murder of children; and the crisis of children born with HIV Aids and child-run-households due to death of parents from HIV/Aids (and fine example of not using condoms, unsafe sex and immorality outside the bounds of 5 marriages set by the ANC president!) …
@ Thato Choma. This country has every produced 3 incredible Helens… Helen Suzman, Helen Joseph and Helen Zille.
Helen Zille is a lady of great integrity and honesty – and one of the most hardworking, intelligent, fair, courageous and respected leaders we have ever had.
The supposed fault you are still so desperately trying to resuscitate over something she never said or meant (and which was so obviously misconstrued for political expediency) cannot even be classed as nit-picking. It is banal and nonsensical.
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@Foster, all what you are saying is true but, you are too brutal with your pen. You have to try a little tenderness to get your message across something. This is a government that’s in denial of all the problems that you pointed out in your comment.
Yaaaaaawn – Zille was spot on with her ‘educational refugees’ but her detractors have to dig deep to find something against her for their own cheap politicking. Typical – fight for power at all costs and ignore the real problem. It is a crying shame that such a truthful comment (and others by her) should waste so much energy and get so much response. Shows you what power she has. She spoke the truth and has nothing to apologise for.
You have a bunch of incompetent politicians and their blatant thieving of OUR money and resources only gets exposed by a tip of the iceberg. Why don’t you read your last paragraph and apply that to yourself. What a shame that you should even bother to comment on this and waste space, time and energy that could have been channelled into something more constructively.
What is SA? Short on news? If it isn’t still this old issue, it’s Zuma’s old issue. How about some more than before on health, education and land distribution?
I agree they are Refugees – anybody that needs to leave your home that you already have! and move and arrive elsewhere with no job, no house, no school- no planning whatsoever, is either forced to do so and become a refugee or is plain STUPID IF THERE IS NO REASON. EVERYBODY MUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEMSELVES AND FIRST GO AND CHECK OUT THE SITUATION BEFORE YOU just arrive and PITCH UP , then you are a Refugee running from something!
i think this article is a bit one sided and not all that should be mentioned in this article are here, therefore you cannot expect people to move on if the things that they should move on about are not stated clearly and fully to the public at large. why should we move on when people like Zille subject to insulting people in order to put they points acrossed? a man once said “a person’s tongue can give you the taste of his heart and mind” until we deal with people like Zille whom continue to insult other people in order to be heard than im sorry i can not move on and i wont because this is the same person whose running for office so if she can do this much insults while she is a MP my imaginatiion is scarying me of what the future might hold for this woman. it is the little things that matter in life and this should also be applied into Politcis
It would be nice if Zille were to use her skills (for, make no mistake, she is not an idiot, despite her public persona) to seek to improve South African education.
Unfortunately, it’s much easier to take cheap shots at other people, especially when you have an ignorant and racist electorate to please. Of course, this applies to the ANC too. But if Zille were not such a worthless leader (as opposed to being a very good political organiser) she wouldn’t be constantly pursuing foolish sound-bite policies.
NuSAns (New – unimproved – South Africans) at their finest.
You see, it’s not the fact that the Eastern Cape ANC government were so hopeless, so inept, so corrupt, so disorganised, so uncaring and basically so dumb that their education department collapsed and MADE their school children become educational refugees that is so offensive to the complainers, but the fact that Zille – a white woman – mentioned it that causes them to become so irate.
With this sort of approach to problems in The NUSA, it is no wonder the country is sliding into such a mess.
@ The Creator … Zille has used her skills to improve education in her region. Why do you think so many refugees from the Eastern Cape are fleeing to better schools in the Western Cape?
People who regard the word Refugee as an insult are simply indicating their hatred for refugees – an ironic demonstration of their own racist/xenophobic prejudices. Such people also demonstrate a complete lack of Ubuntu, being incapable of feeling empathy and charity towards others who flee their homes due to desperate circumstances.
@Belle, the best thing that happened to SA is that this country has Zille and the DA party. If one look at postcolony African countries, the people are like lambs and are afraid to criticize the government. Zille has been saying to the blacks in SA this your government and you have a right to demand accountability from the government. The ANC has backtrack on a lot of policies because the DA, led by Zille, has criticized many of their policies.
All,
thank you for your comments on the article and the general state of the country. Lets just remember that not everything is the responsibility of the government. We all have a part to play in this country, in our communities.
@Choma, I agree with you. I am astounded at the continued insults that seems to have taken over the conscience of those who should know better. We have of late witnessed a damning onslaught of insults, eg the painting, Shapiro’s ”art” and the antics of FF in parliament etc etc. What is astounding is the defenders of these insults. Not only do they defend this in the most articulate and sobre way, they claim that those who are insulted should accept these insults in the interest of our constitution and democracy(!)They completely ignore the fault lines of their defence and yet when Gogo apologised, changed tactic and they once again failed themselves (wow). I also wish to point to that other defense mechanism. I actually call it a phenomena. The one where we are told that we should forget raciscm, apartheid, the struggle, our struggle songs and our painful history. The defenders of this phenomena tells us that we shouldnt recall our history, when we point out to them that they havent changed when these insults and unwarranted unjust behaviour takes place in the context where there has been absolutely no rehabilitation. You only have to look at the comments in this forum and gleen that there is NO emotional intelligence from those, who once again should knw better. Gogo apologised only because it was a media stunt and to save face. So defenders of unbecoming and unforgiving behaviour, where is yr moral intelligence to accept that which is wrong, is simply wrong?
@Sterling, how is it possible that you are able to use animals to describe people of post-colony Africa? And do you really think that any ANC person is scared of Zille?