LETTER: John Steenhuisen’s Ukraine visit is a publicity stunt
This ill-advised action opens up the DA to a charge of hypocrisy for ignoring other war zones
When I first read that DA leader John Steenhuisen had landed in Ukraine I honestly thought that it was a joke, that it was April 1 not May 1. Seriously? With all of our many issues and problems here at home, not least of all the state of our economy, the ticking unemployment time bomb and the devastation wreaked by the recent floods, the leader of the opposition goes on a “fact-finding mission” to Ukraine?
Worse, this publicity stunt now opens the DA up to a charge of hypocrisy for ignoring the plight of people in war zones such as Iraq, Syria, even Sri Lanka.
Even closer to home is the war on, and indiscriminate bombings of, people in countries on the African continent: Ethiopia, Nigeria, Libya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Why Ukraine, and why now?
The DA leader has been ill-advised to make this visit. It is a meaningless gesture that demeans rather than enhances his stature and will come back to bite him and the party.
Mark Lowe
Durban
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