Will South Africa ever progress if we continue to grapple with race? Former DA leader, Tony Leon, throws the notion of “checking privilege” to the wind.
In an interview with News24, he goes on to explain that the government is “obsessed” with race. He added that he feels his race is the least relevant part of his identity, and even went on to say that the allocation of his whiteness is “irritating.”
Race is, of course, no new topic to South Africans and politicians continue to make headlines whenever they touch the word. Is the subject taboo, milked dry, or not discussed enough?
It might feel like we do more harm than good by rehashing the black/white discourse. Does it hamper our growth as a country, or does open debate promote our development as a nation?
Tony Leon and Mmusi Maimane are seemingly engaged in an online feud after Leon said Maimane’s election as the party’s leader in 2015 “was an experiment that went wrong”.
The two politicians have now gone at each other’s throats and time will surely answer some of the above questions.
Leon spoke to News24 on his book titled: Future Tense: Reflections on my Troubled Land.
Maimane took to Twitter after this statement, saying “I am a human being. Not your science study.”
Hey, ore experiement ke mang?
Wa itlhagisa, ebile wa tella. Entlek ungijwayela kabi.
I am a human being. Not your science study. https://t.co/OMgMkcmO2I pic.twitter.com/Yv4F1Qfo3q
— Mmusi Maimane (@MmusiMaimane) April 3, 2021
Furthermore, Leon and Maimane fiercely disagreed over the appropriate course of action in April 2018 after the death of ANC veteran Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.
“…but to simply put out an outpouring of praise any reflection… I mean, she and I, on behalf of the party, had some Titanic battles… [But] not even to acknowledge that hers was a complex legacy, putting it at its politest,” Leon said.
Maimane fired back: “For context (Tony Leon) makes these offensive remarks because I wanted the party to celebrate the life of #WinnieMadikizelaMandela when she passed and to expand the party base beyond its traditional voters. That was the right thing to do and I stand by those decisions”.
Picture: Twitter/@PhumlaniMMajozi