Mmusi Maimane Trump Ramaphosa

(Our_DA / Twitter)

Mmusi Maimane speech compares Cyril to Trump, and ANC to apartheid

Good analogies, or do they need a bit more work? Mmusi Maimane has not minced his words on Tuesday, during a speech at the CPT Press Club.

Mmusi Maimane Trump Ramaphosa

(Our_DA / Twitter)

We’re just trying to remember if we’ve ever heard two more left-field comparisons. The answer to that would be no. Mmusi Maimane has managed to both amuse and confuse South Africans on Tuesday, after he compared Cyril Ramaphosa to his American counterpart, Donald Trump.

Donald Ramaphosa?

Maimane made the link during his address to the Cape Town Press Club. Delivering a campaign speech to the media, the DA’s leader connected Trump’s demand for a border wall to the metaphoric “economic walls” he feels Ramaphosa and the ANC are responsible for, saying that they block the working class from achieving their potential.

“If President Trump wants to build a wall, I believe Ramaphosa is on the way to building one which keeps outsiders disenfranchised and insiders in.”

“Whether through legislation such as labour laws and the new National Minimum Wage or through corrupt and criminal practices like jobs-for-pals and jobs-for-sex, this ANC government continuously builds walls between the haves and the have-nots.”

Mmusi Maimane

Mmusi Maimane blasts ANC for “copying” apartheid playbook

Maimane very much stuck with the theme that the ANC are a spent force, blasting them for being a “failed liberation party”. He labelled the government responsible for many of the ills that still plague South Africa to this day, rallying against unemployment rates and poverty numbers.

However, he went a step further when he mentioned the idea that the party may “raid” the private pension pot in order to prop up Eskom. He said that this was a move straight out of the “apartheid playbook”:

“The ANC has now started borrowing from the Apartheid government’s playbook too. When the National Party ran out of money they introduced ‘prescribed assets’ to boost their coffers. Ramaphosa’s ANC seems intent on doing the same.”

“Half our households are headed by women, and most of these households are desperately poor. More than 14 million South Africans go hungry every day. One in five children is stunted due to malnutrition.”

“This is what the ‘other’ South Africa looks like. The one not protected by unions or minimum wages. The one sustained almost entirely by meagre social grants. The face of this poverty is still largely female, young, rural and black.”

Mmusi Maimane

DA on the campaign trail

His speech – Trump jokes aside – mirrored what we heard from John Steenhuisen earlier on Tuesday. He too was in the mood to trash the ANC’s record of governance but took a slightly different fork in the road.

The DA’s Chief Whip dug into the ruling party for widespread corruption and “general incompetence” during a speech in Kimberley, Northern Cape. The province has been identified as a key battleground for both organisations ahead of the general election, forecast for May.