GOOD Statement by Roscoe Palm, GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor:
Yesterday’s scenes of violence in the City of Cape Town Council once again highlighted the DA’s hypocrisy, the double standard they apply when in opposition versus when they are in power.
Back in March 2015, the DA rightly condemned the so called “white shirts” for their thuggery in Parliament, men who dragged journalists to the ground, deleted evidence of their actions, and silenced dissent under the guise of security. At the time, the DA warned of an erosion of democracy, of heavy handed tactics smothering the opposition and the media. John Steenhuisen accused the ANC led house of protecting then-President Jacob Zuma, “whenever President Zuma is on the parliamentary precinct there is a contingent of armed and unidentified hoodlums harassing Members of Parliament”.
Yet yesterday, under the DA’s own watch in the City of Cape Town, unidentified security entered the City’s Council chambers and violently attacked a public representative, choking him to the point of unconsciousness while the Speaker, Felicity Purchase, shuffled her papers and looked away, unconcerned that the life of a councillor was at risk based on her willful misapplication of the Rules of Order for council sittings.
It was exactly the scenario the DA once warned the country about, except this time it was happening under their authority, in their Council.
The hypocrisy is staggering. The DA of 2015 decried the “white shirts” in Parliament. The DA of 2025 tolerates, and even enables, its local equivalent in Cape Town.
GOOD will not allow this double standard to stand unchallenged. What happened yesterday is an assault not just on one councillor, but on the principles of democracy itself. The DA cannot pretend to champion accountability and constitutional order in Parliament while presiding over violence and intimidation in Cape Town.
It is time for the same outrage they once demanded from others and for real accountability for what happened in Council.
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