LETTER to the DA and Mmusi Maimane in particular
Your 2018 Challenge “Play the ball and not the man”
I received this letter from the DA while on holiday:
Fellow South African,
Today’s election of Cyril Ramaphosa as ANC president will change nothing. He has been part of this corrupt government for the past five years, protecting Zuma at every step. His election simply means the corrupt system that is oppressing us will continue.
South Africans must not be fooled into thinking we will see change under Ramaphosa.
It’s time for South Africans to be the CHANGE they want to see in our country.
Only with your help can we go into 2018 on the strongest possible footing. Only with your help, can we talk to millions more South Africans than ever before, and make sure 2019 is the end of corrupt ANC rule once and for all.
I wrote this in reply
Dear Mr. Maimane,
“Playing the man and not the ball” has always been the DA’s weak point, Helen Zille did it with “Stop Zuma” and Tony Leon with “Muddled Mbeki”.
Hopefully the DA will, in 2018, give South Africans some real choices to think about, some new ideas to contemplate, some policy statements to contrast with those of the ANC – as well as giving Ramaphosa a chance to demonstrate his leadership courage and conviction.
I’m tired of “Broken President” narratives, it’s easy and cheap to ‘play the man and not the ball’, and such vilification provides no inspiration or alternative. In this letter you are at it again.
As you know in sport, this results in either a yellow or red card and ultimately match suspension.
We don’t want the DA off the field, so in 2018 FOCUS on the BALL please (BALL = SA ?).
Kind regards
Steuart Pennington www.sagoodnews.co.za