A Coloured DA councillor in the City of Cape Town told a black security guard to go back to a black province. He has been found guilty of racism by a city disciplinary committee and now faces expulsion from the council.
Junade Hoosain, councillor for ward 46, told the guard that “Darkies do not belong in Robertson but in the Eastern Cape.” Hoosain is a member of the city’s health portfolio committee.
The ward includes parts of the coloured Manenberg, Penlyn Estate and New Fields. Hoosain allegedly also used the K-word.
The disciplinary committee said: “After 20 years of democracy, a community leader cannot be excused for uttering such terms in whatever context.”
According to the city’s legal department, Mzoxolo Gqowa of Security SA, the company that provides VIP protection to councillors, complained to his employer last year that Hoosain had made the remark to him.
Hoosain had apologised to Gqowa, who had then withdrawn his grievance, but the withdrawal came to the white Speaker’s attention and Dirk Smit asked Hoosain to “respond to the allegations”.
The disciplinary hearing lasted three days. They found Hoosain guilty of using the term “darkies” but could not, “on a balance of probabilities”, find him guilty of using the k-word.
The committee believes saying “darkie” is “an act of racism” and as such should be regarded in a serious light.
About another DA councillor in the City of Cape Town that appeared in the Bellville Magistrate’s Court on charges of defrauding the social grant system, Smit said earlier the 61-year-old “could face disciplinary action”.
Smit said the party would only comment after it had done its “own investigation”.
Michael Toko was accused of drawing an old age pension even though he earns about R30,000 a month as a full-time councillor.
Government regulations stipulate that those applying for the old age pension of R1270 should not earn more than R49,200 a year.
Toko also enjoys travel and a cellphone allowance.