A DA councillor in the Newcastle local municipality in northern KwaZulu-Natal is in hot water after a voice note she sent to a WhatsApp group has been deemed to have racial undertones.
In the voice note which has since gone viral, Connie Hariram is heard questioning why a black woman, Thandeka Reed, was elected to a ward committee in a predominantly Indian ward.
NEWS: The DA has once again been rocked by allegations of racism. This was after a voice note by one of its councillors in Newcastle, KZN was circulated. An angry Connie Hariram is questioning why a black woman was elected to a ward committee in a predominantly Indian ward.
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) January 9, 2023
The voice note was sent to a Whatsapp group that it is alleged only Indian residents are part of, and they discuss issues of service delivery in their ward.
While the context is not fully clear, it has been alleged that before the elections for ward committees last year, Hariram and others wanted the ward committee to be made up of residents who are of Indian ancestry.
“Today was the worst day for me, my election was not so stressful like what I have been through today.
“I am so disappointed that I can cry, imagine having … We have a group chat, we have been having meetings, I have been sending out messages and what some of you have done have really, really disappointed me.
“And one thing is … the first thing is that girl, that lady Thandeka, she is a black lady, we were all Indians there.
“Who voted for her, the Indians and guess what, the people on this group I am talking to right now.
“There are people as well, there are candidates as well as their families and voted for her,” Hariram is heard in the voice note which is three minutes and ten seconds long.
She appears angry.
In the wake of the voice note, the leader of ActionSA in KwaZulu-Natal, Zwakele Mncwango, has demanded that the DA and the Speaker of Newcastle municipality must urgently act against councillor Hariram.
“As a party that has positioned itself and its core values where we strive towards and believe in a non-racial society, ActionSA believes that turning a blind eye to this matter would be going against our own philosophies and allowing racial division to persist in our society.
“To that end, we have written to the Speaker of the Municipality demanding to know why have they failed to take the necessary action against the racist councillor.
“As we have been informed that this office was made aware of the voice note in September last year, and received a formal complaint from Ms Reed on October 3, 2022, to which an acknowledgement receipt of the complaint was received in writing by Ms Reed, but the office has since gone silent,” Mncwango said in a statement on Monday.
The leader of the DA in KwaZulu-Natal, Francois Rodgers, is yet to comment on the matter as requested by IOL.
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