Barack and Michelle Obama should not accept Cape Town’s Freedom of The City award, the ANC has said.
|||Cape Town - US presidential couple Barack and Michelle Obama should not accept Cape Town’s Freedom of The City award from “a city that does not care about the poorest of the poor”, says ANC provincial secretary Songezo Mjongile.
“The city is trying to divert attention from the real issues affecting the city such as sanitation, housing delivery and general service delivery to the poor. To us (the ANC) this is nothing other than a diversion and I think it would be a pity if Obama accepted the award from a city that doesn’t care about the poorest of the poor,” Mjongile said.
Mayor Patricia de Lille has been slammed by opposition political parties for the decision to honour the Obamas, adopted by council last May with 128 councillors voting in favour, four against and 58 abstaining. The Obamas have accepted the honour.
Unconnected to the award, Obama leaves on official state visits to Senegal, SA and Tanzania from June 26 to July 3 to strengthen “economic growth, investment and trade”.
Mjongile said the Obama visit to SA to discuss relations was a good thing but the city was being “opportunistic”. The Obamas should not accept the award until the city showed a greater commitment to improving the lives of the poor.
De Lille said no arrangements have yet been made to hand the award to the Obamas.
“As President Barack Obama is a head of state, we will be guided by the office of President Jacob Zuma as state protocol dictates,” she said.
Opposition parties, NGOs and religious groups have questioned what the Obamas had done to deserve the accolade but De Lille brushed off criticism, saying they had brought hope to the world. She said the award was in recognition of their inspirational example.
ANC leader in council Tony Ehrenreich has previously called the move a “PR gimmick”, saying the city was hoping to gain credibility.
ANC Western Cape chairman Marius Fransman, who is also deputy minister of international relations and co-operation, declined to comment, referring the Cape Times to Mjongile.
The Muslim Judicial Council rejected the award because it said Obama had the blood of thousands on his hands in the US’s war on terror following the 9/11 atrocity.
zara.nicholson@inl.co.za
Cape Times