Democratic Party veteran Helen Suzman laid into both the Democratic Alliance’s support for the death penalty and Patricia de Lille’s new party, the Independent Democrats, this week. She warned DA faithfuls now attracted to De Lille that the newcomer offered little substance.
Addressing a DA fund-raising dinner attended by about 1 400 people in its Johannesburg northern suburbs heartland, Suzman said: ”You can chuck me out of here if you want, but I am not at all in favour of the death penalty.”
Suzman met several DA supporters who said they would vote for De Lille because of the DP’s merger with the New National Party and Tony Leon’s endorsement of the death penalty.
She reminded the party that South Africa used to have the highest execution rate in the Western world before the death penalty was abolished in 1995.
There was no evidence that the murder rate went up when the death penalty was abolished in Wales and Britain, she argued. There was also no evidence that the death penalty curbed crime.
She added that no one who had been inside the execution room, as she had, could still support the death penalty.
”The solution is to catch criminals, bring them to justice and sentence them to long-term imprisonment.
”If you hang a person, that’s it, you cannot reverse it even if the person was innocent.”
Suzman dismissed suggestions that De Lille was as effective a lone voice as she had been when she was a Progressive Party member under apartheid. De Lille, she said, had a long way to go before she could become a reincarnation of her.
”She needs to stay in Parliament more, make more speeches and face many more difficulties.
”There is far less respect for the opposition than there used to be under the Westminster parliamentary system.
”But the real reason I won’t vote for her is that I don’t believe in her sustainability. She does not have as much support as I used to. I had viable party machinery behind me. I also had an enthusiastic constituency, which she does not have.”
The DA this week stepped up its campaign against De Lille, whose growing support threatens to eat into its support base. She is popular with white liberal voters and women voters in general, and has a strong following among Indians and coloureds.
De Lille responded that there was no comparison between her and Suzman. ”If she had such a good team, why did she stay alone in Parliament for so long?
”I’m going to Parliament after the elections with a big team after less than one year. As for sustainability, she must speak to her little boy Tony Leon about principles. I will be sustainable because we do not chop and change our principles to get more voters,” De Lille said.
Suzman said she was confident the DA would be returned with a larger majority.
She endorsed the DA’s alliance with the IFP and praised the party’s president, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, saying he ”treasures our values”.
She encouraged Leon to find ways to work with the smaller opposition parties after the elections.