Easier to blame Russian bots, Bell Pottinger, third force etc than face reality. Pure cognitive dissonance to imagine DA actions would not have consequences.
Should we simply ignore the DA’s silence while their minister decimates our farmers?
Denialism is not serving the DA.
11 new cases in NC. Why is this significant? Because that has always been the province that we all believed will never get FMD. A province that has been clean for more than a 100 years.
Suppose this is what happens when we are only there for amusement.
The DA told farmers it was their party. Then this happened. 🧵
1/ SA's worst FMD outbreak. All 9 provinces. A national crisis.
A KZN farmer emails the minister — thanking him for vaccines, offering to help coordinate the rollout.
John Steenhuisen's chief of staff Jana le Roux forwards it to the DG and DDG with one line: "for some amusement."
2/ She has no agriculture background. She's a corporate lawyer who followed Steenhuisen from Cape Town city hall into the GNU.
Steenhuisen's response when it went viral? "I requested the person to apologise."
She kept her job.
3/ This is the same ministry that removed veteran FMD expert Dr Danie Odendaal for publicly questioning the vaccine strategy.
Mock the farmers trying to help. Fire the experts trying to fix it.
Then ask for an apology and move on.
This is the DA's "agriculture reset." 🌾
@AtholT Email is not isolated, it is symptomatic of a toxic culture within the DOA.
John has a habit of attacking and defaming those who exposed his irrational and unlawful response to the FMD outbreak.
He even refers to farmers as AfriMAGA
Here's why white and minority voters must demand Steenhuisen's resignation and corrective action by the DA.
You can't claim the black majority continues to vote for corrupt and useless ministers when it suits you then when it's inconvenient shield the Dishonorable Steenhuisen.
This is why the DA can not be written off as some claim. Inside the DA are genuinely good people with strong morals and values who try to, and given more power would make the country a better place. These individuals act as a bulwark against those in the party who seek to be the ANC with better PR. It is not hyperbolic to say that it is in everyone’s interests that the Ians of the party ultimately win against the Ryans of the party.
@JamesBlazer007@SupaVanSA@TheJaundicedEye No. He decided to step down as leader… so he could keep his well paying government paid job thanks to the DA and the GNU… the reality is that the DA should’ve removed him from his ministerial role long ago. No one holds him accountable.
@JamesBlazer007@SupaVanSA@TheJaundicedEye It kind of is if no one stands up to John - if he isn’t held accountable then people assume the party condones his behaviour. Sad but true.
@drleandi_E@LLB_hard82389@TonyLeonSA@helenzille The problem is that she works under a top level DA member who runs her gov office. If she is comfortable sending emails like this it shows that her office culture is comfortable with this kind of attitude and that includes the man in charge - John Steenhuisen
@JamesBlazer007@SupaVanSA@TheJaundicedEye If the chief of staff feels comfortable sending an email like this it shows clearly that this attitude is condoned in the office. She wouldn’t share it unless they all have a laugh about farmers behind closed doors. Simple.
During GNU negotiations Fébé PG asked how we would respond to Mackenzie being in the government. My exact words were, “He’s a gangster”. I won’t go into what happened next but suffice to say he should not be in any serious government.
Do you remember those FREE vaccines that @WandileSihlobo and @SKNgobese were bragging about. Here is the disclaimer. Brought to you by the Minister’s own Interministerial coordinating committee.