Paternalism, ethnocide, epistemicide: Talking points for a propaganda campaign
16 May 2022
The Liesbeek Action Campaign condemns a seemingly coordinated effort to spread misinformation about objections to the development at the River Club, Observatory, Cape Town. Several personalities with ties to the Democratic Alliance and the Institute for Race Relations have voiced their opinions on the matter, repeating offensive falsehoods and attempting to cast doubt on the authenticity of the indigenous groups objecting to the development on sacred land.
Among those who have made false claims and deeply offensive remarks are Helen Zille, Sara Gon of the IRR, retired DA MP Mariann Shinn and Ivo Vegter, a columnist for IRR mouthpiece, the Daily Friend. Court papers show that former DA leader Tony Leon’s PR firm, Resolve Communications, was paid R2.5 million by Liesbeek Leisure Property Trust, the property developer now interdicted from building on the site. Besides a few propagandistic advertorials and social media ads that paint a rosy picture of the River Club development, we’re left to wonder what else that fee bought the developers…