Democratic Alliance Durban Councillor in Hot Water for Alleged Racist Comments

• The Democratic Alliance is investigating an alleged racism incident involving one of its councillors
• A video of the councillor allegedly surfaced where was heard passing racist remarks
• She reportedly said that black people should not be employed in the local water pipeline project

Tebogo Mokwena, a dedicated Briefly News current affairs journalist, contributed coverage of international and local social issues like health, corruption, education, unemployment, labour, service delivery protests and heritage in South Africa during his seven years at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News.

DURBAN, KWAZULU-NATAL — A Democratic Alliance councillor in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, is in trouble after racism allegations surfaced against her.

DA councillor in hot water

According to eNCA, the Ethekwini councillor reportedly said that black people should not be employed by the eThekwini Municipality's Water and Sanitation Department. The project sought to construct 4.3 kilometres of DN1200 steel for the Southern Aqueduct.

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The ward councillor from Chatsworth allegedly said in a sound clip that the only people who are going to get jobs in this project are the Indian people and not the black people. The comments were reportedly made during recruitment, and the councillor claimed the audio was altered.

ANC condemns the incident

The ANC in eThekwini condemned the incident. The party's Mondli Mkhize slammed the comments.

"We are concerned that there's going to be an apartheid kind of situation where there are jobs that are reserved for particular races. That's dangerous and unacceptable, and we feel like it is taking us backwards," he said.

The DA's eThekwini Caucus leader, Thabani Mthethwa, said the party cannot verify the authenticity of the audio. However, the party is investigating the incident.

Olympic medalist accused of racism

In a related article, Briefly News reported that Olympic Medalist Jo-Ane van Dyk was accused of racism.

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A South African who went to university with him claimed that van Dyk told her to speak Afrikaans at an Afrikaans university.

South Africans, however, slammed the woman and questioned why she made the allegations only after van Dyk won gold at the Olympics. Many called for her to provide evidence of the alleged racism.

Source: Briefly News