DA Leader John Steenhuisen Slams Human Rights Day Celebrations: "No Use When Millions Live Below Poverty Line"

• The Democratic Alliance's Johan Steenhuisen delivered a keynote address amid his party's Human Rights Day event in Mpumalanga
• The politician called for the fight against poverty to be ramped up, saying the socio-economic ill affects the majority of South Africans
• Steenhuisen called on citizens at large to support his party's vision of waging a war against and alleviating crippling poverty in the country

GEMSBOKSPRUIT - Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen has taken a leading stance on Human Rights Day celebrations by decrying it at his party's commemoration event in Mpumalanga on Monday.

Steenhuisen said the DA is declaring war on poverty, noting it was futile celebrating the occasion when millions of people in South Africa still live below the national food poverty line, SABC News reported.

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The politician said the government must accept that poverty is the enemy plaguing citizens and should take an active stance to stave off the socio-economic ill. He reiterated that essential human rights must be met before the fight against poverty is won.

"Let us wage war on poverty so when we are much older, we can look back on this fight and relive the experience of winning against deprivation in the country. [Let us envision] our children attending good schools, roofs over our heads and a job," said Steenhuisen.

"To realise the vision of human dignity enshrined in the Bill of Rights, we need to commit as a nation to ending poverty. This ill continues to deny more than 60 per cent of the country's citizens of their basic freedoms."

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Steenhuisen appealed to all South Africans to back his party's vision of alleviating poverty, stressing that the first and most crucial step was to do away with "South Africa's Poverty Cabinet", IOL reported.

DA wants SA Government to condemn Russian aggression

Elsewhere, Briefly News previously reported that a petition did the rounds and attracted more than 4 000 signatures, the DA said, as it called for the South African government to take a firm stand against Russia in the war with Ukraine.

The party slammed the ANC over the country's recent decision to abstain from a United Nations (UN) General Assembly resolution to condemn Moscow for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, TimesLIVE reported.

The DA's Darren Bergman said the party felt dissatisfied with the governing party's alleged flip-flopping and that it should take a decisive stand in calling for Russia to withdraw its forces from Ukraine, according to EWN.

Source: Briefly News