Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille on Friday slammed a study published in the Cape Times last week that claimed Cape Town was a racist city.

She said the survey, conducted by the Development Policy Research Unit at the University of Cape Town, was subjective and limited in scope, and its authors readily admitted as much.

The study, "Transformation: African People in the Western Cape", was based on interviews with people in 13 businesses in the province and concluded that Cape Town is hostile to black people.

Zille said it was not representative of any sector, used qualitative interviews with black employees and failed to consult coloured people — the main population group in the province.

She accused the Cape Times of ignoring the methodology of the research and using it to make wide generalisations, including that blacks are under-represented in local government.

"On closer inspection it is clear that the newspaper exploited a methodologically flawed report, based on a biased sample, for the purposes of racial propaganda."

Cape Times 'racist'?

If the newspaper were subjected to its own criteria, she said, it would fail miserably because none of its senior managers and editors were black.

"According to the Cape Times' own flawed analysis, this makes them a 'racist newspaper'," she said.

The former Cape Town mayor said ANC propagandists have long called the city racist as an election ploy, urging voters to support the ANC because if the DA won control of the region they would be "sent back to the Eastern Cape".

She said this was not surprising because the ruling party termed all its opponents "racist", but made no sense because people flocked to the Western Cape from others parts of the country and stayed.

"Cape Town offers them better services, higher subsidies, better education and job opportunities than they would ever get in the ANC-controlled Eastern Cape. Middle class ratepayers of the city pay a lot to ensure more free services for Cape Town's poor than any other city."

Zille said the DA was committed to employment equity, as opposed to cadre deployment.

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