Sir,

I write regarding the recent piece you put out on this week covering what you claim to be incorrect and childish of the DA to have done.

I take issue with this article for a multitude of reasons. However, the overarching one is that for the longest time now, FF + social media accounts and commentators like Renaldo Gouws have been attacking and framing DA Ministers and local governments as incompetent and dishonest in their duties. Particularly Mr Gouws, who commands a large social media following, consistently lies about the DA approving ANC-era legislation such as BELA, EWC, NHI, and BBBEE to his audience when he knows that is not what happened. Beyond that he constantly demands that DA Ministers, like Minister John Steenhuisen, be held accountable for their actions or decisions in their ministries.

That is why I fail to understand why The Common Sense thinks an FF+ Minister of Correctional Services is immune from DA leaders and public representatives holding him accountable for his department’s actions. Especially considering that FF + members and representatives correctly hold DA Ministers and public representatives accountable for their actions. In your article you write that the DA shouldn’t go after a natural ally like the FF+, I would then ask why The Common Sense hasn’t asked that same question of the FF+ who, through people like Renaldo Gouws and Facebook accounts like, Trots Afrikaans, are on an almost daily basis taking on the DA. If you take issue with the DA applying those same standards to the FF + then I’m afraid that comes across as extremely biased.

Just as DA Ministers upon assuming their ministerial roles inherited crises like a FMD epidemic, a broken basic education system, and an abused and broken immigration and Home Affairs system, the onus was that they are there to fix these issues. Which is why when we measure the actions DA Ministers have taken on issues like immigration, FMD and basic education, there is significant improvement and factual results.

Minister Pieter Groenewald sits in a similar position, the question was what has he done in the almost two years he has now been Correctional Services Minister to fix and build the infrastructure necessary to find the missing paroles and ensure it does not happen again. That is not an unfair question or statement to ask, and asking the Minister to account before Parliament on this issue is what Constitutional democracy is about.

The DA deeply values all its voters and supporters, among them are a significant Afrikaans-speaking voter base. If the FF + wishes to attract those voters through social media platforms and campaigns aimed at making the DA seem like the ANC-lite ( as many of their members and creators like Mr Gouws say) that is their prerogative. However you should not expect the DA to lie back and accept that, we will fight on the facts and ensure we retain those voters as we continue to build a party that is for all South Africans who agree with our values and principles.

I hope that The Common Sense understands that.

Yours in thanks
Christopher Walker

Walker is a graduate of the DA Young Leader's Programme and is a student at the University of Pretoria. He writes in in his personal capacity.