The ANC shows its obsession with race again

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Manyi’s remarks ‘crude racism’

February 25 2011 at 07:46am
By Aziz Hartley and Deon de Lange

Government spokesperson Jimmy Manyi was under fire on Thursday for having said that the Western Cape has too many coloured people.

The public face of the ANC government - its newly appointed spokesman Jimmy Manyi - has been accused of “crude racism” for claiming that coloured people are over-represented in the Western Cape and should move elsewhere.

Director-general of the department of labour at the time he made the comments in 2010, Manyi - who was also the president of the Black Management Forum (BMF) - said during a television programme there was an “over-supply” of coloureds in the Western Cape and suggested they “spread (out) in the rest of the country”.

Trade union Solidarity put Manyi’s comments on YouTube on Thursday, ostensibly to strengthen its claim that amendments to the Employment Equity Act would have a negative impact on coloured workers in the province.

On Thursday night mayoral committee member for social development Grant Pascoe accused the ANC of being obsessed with race and slammed Manyi’s comments as “crude racism”.

“Jimmy Manyi is wrong. There’s no such thing as too many coloureds (or whites, or Indians or blacks). The DA in Cape Town rejects with contempt Jimmy Manyi’s attack on residents of the Western Cape. His view shows his lack of understanding of the history and people of our beautiful country, and cannot be allowed to stand. Despite what Mr Manyi may think, South African citizens are free to live wherever they choose, regardless of their skin colour.”