Fighting Corruption Will Make Us Targets of Smear Campaigns, and Death Threats…

Dear Editor

The DA categorically rejects the allegations being made against Dean Macpherson, Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, primarily by political consultant JJ Thabane, who moonlights as a media personality.

It is not just suspicious, but in fact entirely transparent, that these allegations come just as Macpherson is exposing, investigating and stopping serious corruption – including an R800-million scandal involving an oxygen tender awarded irregularly by the entity known as the Independent Development Trust (IDT) within his department.

IDT is an entity that has been unable to submit audited financials since August last year, and has now run out of money under shambolic leadership.

Minister Macpherson is doing the right thing by unearthing and investigating serious corruption, and by stopping the IDT deal. It is a new culture of corruption-busting, which is what the DA proudly brings to government when we come into office.

Getting in the way of irregular dealings to the value of R800-million will naturally make targets of those cleaning up, but we won’t be deterred at all. This smacks of the State Capture days when the pushback against exposure was a Bell Pottinger fight back campaign of personal attacks, bots and biased journalists.

As it was during the Bell Pottinger attack on South Africa, online bots syndicating and sharing one another’s false content are at play in this matter too, focussing on Macpherson but spreading identical false messages.

We note that the EFF has now opportunistically jumped to communicate on this matter too, seeking relevance as they continue to decline into irrelevance.

It is very telling that since Thabane has made his baseless claims, the journalist who first carried the story of Macpherson’s corruption-busting has publicly called out and contradicted Thabane.

The fight against entrenched, serious corruption is not easily won without the whistleblowers and those undoing the corruption being targeted by smear campaigns, death threats and every means of frustration.

The fight for the future of South Africa, free of corruption, with a rebuilt economy, growth and jobs, is worth every bit of false slander and personal defamation, because South Africa is more important. We will not relent, and the DA will not be intimidated or deterred.

Regards

Willie Aucamp MP
DA National Spokesperson