Durban DA supports MDC

The incident arose when Steenhuisen requested the opportunity to present Nxumalo with a Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) T-Shirt. The presentation was meant to highlight the ongoing human rights tragedy currently unfolding in Zimbabwe and the fact that today was supposed to be the presidential election in that country.
 
At the May 2008 meeting the Speaker permitted Councillor MF Adam of the Truly Alliance to present him with a Palestinian Liberation Organisation headscarf and allowed him to make statements in solidarity with human rights abuses in Palestine This was met with applause and cheers from the ANC benches. By allowing Councillor Adam to make the presentation the Speaker allowed a precedent to be set. There is therefore no reason why the speaker should have prohibited Steenhuisen’s gesture of solidarity with the MDC for the gross abuse of human rights happening in neighbouring Zimbabwe.
 
After refusing to allow the presentation, the Speaker demanded that Steenhuisen apologise to the council for “bringing the meeting into disrepute”. Steenhuisen again re-iterated that the Speaker had previously allowed such a presentation to be made and simply wished to exercise the DA’s right to the same privilege. Steenhuisen refused to apologise and was ordered to leave the meeting. He was joined in solidarity by the entire DA caucus.
 
‘If the ANC and the speaker are sincere about the upholding of human rights and speaking out against the abuse of those rights they should have had no difficulty in allowing the presentation to take place. The DA finds the speakers double standards extremely disconcerting but coupled with the Speaker’s clear favouring of the ruling party during recent debates on the council, a disturbing trend has begun to emerge which does not bode well for the right to democratic expression in our city,’
said Cllr Steenhuisen.