Town’
Barry Streek
Western Cape New National Party MEC for Social Services and Poverty Relief Peter Marais has again stirred up things, this time by saying “the market would not solve the poverty crisis in South Africa and government would have to play a more pronounced role”.
Ignoring official NNP policy on the role of the free market and the state, Maraistold the provincial legislature to “stop talking to the poor about the market.
“The market is for those who have something to buy or sell. It is not the answer to the problem for those who have nothing to bargain with.
“Why must the city of Cape Town charge market-related prices for the use of the Green Point Stadium? Ratepayers have already paid for it.
“Why must schools from poor communities be denied its use because of market- related fees? I remember the good old days when school sports were held there.
“Look at the charges for the city’s swimming pools. My people are now kept from white facilities by white fees. We are being sent back to the ghettos by exorbitant prices.”
Marais’s attack on the market is another attempt by him to reposition the NNP, and clear the pitch for him to make a populist bid for the Western Cape leadership of the party.
Under apartheid, he continued, “I could not buy a seaside plot because of the Group Areas Act and because even though I could have a plot there, I would not be allowed to walk on the beach or put my foot in the water.
“Now, after the fall of apartheid, I cannot buy a seaside plot because of market-related prices.
“I ask you, what is the difference? Coloureds and blacks are still the losers.”