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Before delivering her 10th State of the Province Address, the Premier of the Western Cape, Helen Zille, requested a moment of silence for those affected by the Esidimeni tragedy. An uncaring ANC in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament (WCPP) shamefully objected to this, in a bid to prevent it from happening.

The DA is both shocked and angered by the ANC’s disregard for the now over 100 mentally-ill patients who died at the hands of an uncaring ANC government.

One would have thought that following Speaker of the National Assembly’s condemnable refusal to allow a similar moment of silence in the National Assembly, her colleagues in the Western Cape would have welcomed the opportunity to correct her conduct.

But we should not be surprised by their failure to do so. The entire ANC, be it in Parliament, in the Western Cape, or Gauteng, is all one and the same: an organisation that doesn’t care about the poor and vulnerable. Jacob Zuma and their cronies come first, always, and the people last.

The DA will continue to do everything possible to ensure justice for those who died at the hands of an uncaring ANC government. We therefore again urge President Jacob Zuma to heed DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane’s call for a full Judicial Commission of Inquiry into these deaths.

Issued by DA