/ 19 October 2001

We are not so dumb, Mr Rasool

I have rarely been so surprised in my life as when I saw the advertisement in yesterday’s Die Burger under the headline “Wie is die Coconuts”. It is truly ironic to witness the once-proud African National Congress claiming that so-called “brown” people are selling out the Nats to the Democratic Party.

What hypocrisy, what political opportunism, and what is worse, what a display of blatant racism! Do they really think that the millions of educated “brown” people of our province, some of whom may have voted for the Democratic Alliance, are going to forgive the ANC for calling them “coconuts”? And this from a party that brags of non-racialism?

Do they not realise that their tactic is as transparent as it is despicable? I feel ashamed to still be a member of a party whose political buffoonery has descended to the level of our (hopefully) erstwhile mayor.

May I just say to Ebrahim Rasool: Shame on you. You have just lost all respect from at least one “brown” person in this city. Pasop! The coconuts are about to start flying around with a vengeance! There is nothing to be said for a leader who can stoop so low as to resort to racial opstokery in his apparently insatiable lust for the trappings of office that the people of the province deprived him of in the last democratic election.

And if the front page report in yesterday’s Die Burger is correct, that you say that you are doing this in the “interest of the poor people of Cape Town”, then you really must have a low opinion of the intelligence of us “brown” people.

We are not so dumb, Mr Rasool, as your stereotyped view of the coloured population would suggest. The last thing on your mind is what the poor of Cape Town are suffering.

One thing I can predict with absolute certainty: you will never be allowed to forget that you have labelled hundreds of thousands of Capetonians as coconuts. You will go down in history as Coconut Rasool. That at least would appear to be an accurate description of what the inside of your skull looks like.

Yes, Comrade, you are an idiot to allow a disgusting piece of racism to appear under the name of a provincial party you are alleged to lead! Rhoda Kadalie, human rights campaigner