Minister Macpherson faces backlash from ActionSA over alleged derogatory remarks

The Star

2 days ago

Bongani Hans | Published 1 day ago
Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson is standing his ground against pressure to retract utterances that were allegedly degrading ActionSA supporters to worthless people amid threats to report him to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC).
The ActionSA held an online meeting on Thursday, discussing further steps to be taken against the DA's KwaZulu-Natal chairperson.
The party, which had already referred Macpherson to the national Parliament's Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests for disciplinary action, is furious that he, outside the Pietermaritzburg High Court late last month, referred to 'over 500 Black ActionSA members' as pharas.
ActionSA was demanding that the issue of calling its supporters pharas be given the same condemnation as Open Chats Podcast hosts, who are now being probed by the SAHRC for making derogatory remarks about coloured people.
During a TikTok livestream discussion, ActionSA MP Alan Beesley said the SAHRC was the next step to hold the minister accountable for his utterances.
'After we reported Macpherson to the ethics committee in Parliament, and since we were hoping that he was going to apologise after we gave him a week to do so, which he had not done; that is going to continue.
'And we are going to launch a formal complaint with the SAHRC as this was a violation of the human rights of people, who were predominantly black, in a racist manner,' said Beesley.
Instead of bowing to pressure to apologise, Macpherson accused ActionSA of being an attention seeker that was hellbent on distracting him from the fight against corruption.
'It's interesting that every time I am fighting corruption or dealing with critical issues in the department, ActionSA is trying to divert attention away from that issue,' he told this reporter last week.
When asked to comment on the threats to refer him to the SAHRC, Macpherson said: 'My comment still stands.'
Beesley announced taking alleged racist remarks to the SAHRC, shortly after Macpherson was at the Cape Town Central Police Station to open a case against the Independent Development Trust (IDT) suspended chief executive officer, Tebogo Malaka, and the trust's spokesperson, Phasha Makgolane, for trying to bribe a journalist.
Beesley said Macpherson violated the rights that were protected by the Bill of Rights.
Macpherson was caught in a video that found its way to social media, addressing DA supporters and leaders, including its Francois Rodgers, about the presence of ActionSA supporters outside the court, saying: 'There is a smallanyana (little) party (referring to ActionSA); they just brought up some people, and we don't know who they are since they are pharas; they gave them some green T-shirts.
'When you ask which party (they belong to), they said 'angazi' (I don't know), 'I am just here for one meal and one drink', and they were here for just singing and dancing.'
Both the ActionSA and DA were in court attending a case they brought together against eThekwini Municipality for failing to fix sewage spillage around the city.
Beesley said it was not premature to refer the matter to the SAHRC before being dealt with by Parliament, which is currently in recess.
'The SAHRC is here to protect human rights, while the ethics committee is here to protect the ethics of Parliament. We cannot divorce the fact that Macpherson is a member of Parliament and is a human being who is treating people differently.
'We should pursue him both as a member of Parliament and as an ordinary South African, because even if he made those comments as an ordinary South African, they would be out of line because you cannot mistreat people who are suffering the most, like that,' said Beesly.
ActionSA provincial leader Zwakele Mncwango said Macpherson was refusing to apologise because 'he believed in what he said'.
'I think he does not see a reason why he must apologise as he stands by his words, and that is how he sees black people in South Africa. Unfortunately, he does not see anything wrong with what he said while he is a minister,' said Mncwango.
He said Macpherson portrayed himself as a minister who was not prepared to use his ministerial position to help the homeless people out of their situation by building them houses.
'His arrogance will always show off, and even the DA has not said anything about this, and that tells you that it is in their DNA to stand with his views because if they also believed he is wrong, they should by now have spoken to him to apologise,' said Mncwango.
ActionSA MP Mika Ngobeni, who was the livestream host, asked Mncwango to comment on parties in the Government of National Unity that were not criticising Macpherson in the same way they did against the podcast hosts who allegedly insulted coloured communities.
Mncwango said this was because the legacy of apartheid was still hanging over.
'This requires all of us to work toward unity and to be true when it comes to reconciliation. If we ignore such matters or we look at them depending on who is saying what, we will never heal,' he said.
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