Helen Zille says you’re ‘100 x better off’ than other poor people

anga was recently hit by a roaring blaze, which left one person dead and around 1 000 others displaced. The area is also something of a crime hot-spot, though major steps have been taken to reduce its murder rate.

Situated roughly 20km outside of Cape Town city centre, the settlement is made up of shacks and informal dwellings. However, more than 250 of these homes were gutted by the weekend inferno. Life remains a struggle for these impoverished citizens, as GOOD Secretary-General Brett Herron explained on Tuesday:

“Most people who live in Langa do not qualify for fully subsidised homes and therefore have little incentive to move further from town. Here, living conditions are extremely dire with shockingly insufficient sanitation and water services. Residents still use the bucket system, and fire prevention or retardant measures don’t exist.”

Brett Herron

Helen Zille sparks outcry with remarks on poverty

With this in mind, it may be difficult for some to reconcile this account with Helen Zille’s. Speaking on Radio 702 earlier today, the DA heavyweight said that shack-dwellers in Langa ‘are far more likely to have access to electricity and running water’, making their experience of poverty ‘at least 100 times better’ in comparison to others.

“To be poor in Langa in Cape Town is a hundred, probably a thousand times better than to be poor in many of the townships in the rest of the country. Even if you live in a shack, you are far more likely to have electricity, close access to running water, sewarage and all of those things that people do not have anywhere else in the country.”

Helen Zille

• Needless to say, the comments have ruffled feathers online…

@helenzille please retire! Please

— Ilse (@IlseMc) April 19, 2022

Why is she given a public platform, she’s very insensitive with her words.

— Thabiso Theledi (@DrTT1001) April 19, 2022

@TheRealClementM
“To be poor in Langa is far better than being poor in the rest of the country” Helen Zille

NOBODY aspires to a better standard of poverty, EVER!!

— Goddess Ma’at (@Sam_anqu) April 19, 2022