Staff Reporter
25 August 2001
Cape Town — THERE were no surprises at the New National Party congress in Kraaifontein as premier and provincial party leader Gerald Morkel was unanimously re-elected as leader.
Morkel's three deputies - Martha Olckers, Pierre Uys and City of Cape Town mayor Peter Marais - also retained their positions in spite of a challenge from provincial transport MEC Piet Meyer.
At the largely administrative congress yesterday, Marais came out tops as deputy leader, securing 147 votes.
Olckers followed with 143 and Uys with 128. Meyer could only muster 76 votes.
An ebullient Morkel adopted a serious attitude while addressing delegates, in what could be the last congress of the New NP before it merges with the Democratic Party to form the Democratic Alliance.
He used the opportunity to lash the government for its "wasteful spending" of R100 million on the racism conference in Durban.
He spelled out several more important alternatives such as Aids, housing and education.
Morkel said racism was undeniably present in the Western Cape but the government had failed the province by concentrating on the race card and not crime.
The terror attacks on the United States should not be seen in isolation.
The current "lawlessness" in Zimbabwe was a threat to core democratic values but went unnoticed by the government.
"Unless the rule of law is restored as a framework for land reform, not only Zimbabwe but the whole region will plunge over the cliff of economic collapse.
The sadness of it all is that while there had been no warning of the destruction of the World Trade Centre, in Zimbabwe we have all the signs and we have been warning this government for over two years."
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2001 Cape Argus. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
