THE ANC's FAVOURITE PASTIME - PLAYING THE RACE CARD

The DA Legal Commission's decision to reinstate DIanne Kohler Barnard as a party member was appropriate. Her initial expulsion from the party was disproportionately harsh for mistakenly reposting a received message praising PW Botha for being "far more honest than any of these ANC rogues" and providing "a far better service to the public". Kohler Barnard's reposting of the message was decidedly stupid, and more so, for not fully reading the message before reposting it. However, her stupidity does not translate into racism. Furthermore, her reinstatement does not bespeak to the DA, as the ANC contends, remaining a racist party. Many would argue that the Facebook message has a stinging truthfulness to it, or at the very least, was within the parameters of fair comment. Can the ANC government in all good conscience rebut indisputable wholesale evidence of dishonesty and lack of delivery under its watch? It simply cannot - hence its timeworn fallback to playing the catch-all race card.