DA bids farewell to seasoned MPL

by Andrew Louw MPL – DA Northern Cape Provincial Leader Error! Filename not specified.Date: 23 August 2019Release: Immediate It is with a heavy heart that I have to announce the resignation of a seasoned member of the DA’s legislature team in the Northern Cape today.Dr Allen Grootboom who was sworn in as a Member of the Provincial Legislature, has decided to retire from formal politics after a long and successful run in this field, although he will remain a member of the party.Download pictures here and here. Dr Grootboom started his political involvement as a young 16-year old student in 1973 at the university if the Western Cape. Being young and impressionable, he was immediately drawn into the centre of the Black Consciousness movement and joined the South African Students Organisation (SASSO). At the time SASSO was a banned organisation and its leaders harassed most of the time. During this time he also got involved with the New Unity Movement, which was aligned to the Pan Africanist Movement.He described his first year as stormy indeed, with the great student ‘Walk Off’ in 1973 the students stated their rejection of gutter education. This was the birth of intellectualism and militant student politics and resistance at the university. Despite the militancy of boycotts, beatings and harassment by the security police of students, he managed to complete his first degree.The student uprising against Afrikaans in Soweto fanned the flames of student resistance further. The students who left the campus during this time, had one purpose in mind: the conscientization of the masses, which included scholars and their parents. Ashley Kriel, who was gunned down by police, was a product of the students of 1980 who spearheaded the involvement of coloured schools across South Africa from Cape Town to Kimberley and from Port Elizabeth to Pofadder. It is a misnomer to assert that people of colour were not part of the struggle for freedom. For him the class of 1980, schools and university, was the fulcrum that initiated the change and mass involvement of people of colour in the freedom struggle.Dr Grootboom played a leading role in student politics at the time. The students who graduated from UWC took it upon them to ensure that the masses became politically schooled. During and after the UDF formation and Dakar, he took up ANC membership until 1995. He then joined the then DP, because as he says, “the ANC became the same racist organisation that the National Party was.”Dr Grootboom also played an important role in writing the constitution for the Arts in a new SA as an executive member of the National Arts Initiative in the Northern Cape.Dr Grootboom read for his MEd in Psychology at the University of Port Elizabeth. He later became a Ford Fellow after receiving a scholarship from the Ford Foundation. He read for a doctoral degree in Psychology at the university of the Free State. He dedicated his research to the impact of racism on young people and how racism is perpetuated in our society. He asserts that people with a bi-racial identity, mixed parentage and in SA, KhoiSan heritage, have an additional struggle: the struggle of being on the receiving end of both white and black racism. He refers to black racism as a ‘second racism’, because people of colour never expected that from their black brothers and family because, as he says, we fought together in the trenches against white domination and racism. A not so new consciousness is emerging, that of reciprocal racism, which is a kind of tit-for-tat racism against our darker skinned countrymen because of the racism they experience in the work place and public sector. He contests that racism remains insidious from whoever it comes. He has made it his life aim to continue fighting racism until South Africans can be truly one nation under one flag and one National Anthem.Racism he says, remains the number one priority threatening our democracy, “Once we move beyond that, we will stop blaming apartheid for our mistakes.” There is a serious level of self-hate that seems to have taken over our sense of self as black people. It is time we acknowledge our failures, see corruption and maladministration for what it is, acknowledge that cadre deployment is doing more harm than good, correct our mistakes and as a collective take SA forward.Dr Grootboom joined the then Democratic Party in 1995 and later became the Provincial Chairperson. He left politics to complete his studies and returned to formal politics in 2009 when he was wearing two hats of being the chairperson and the leader of the DA in the Northern Cape. After taking up a role as an MPL he also became a member of parliament. He believes that the Democratic Alliance is the only party that still cherishes the dream of one non- racial South Africa.Dr Grootboom penned a number of publications: Die Dans van die Skoenlapper – an ensemble of struggle verses and a Duet with Floris Brown, MooiLiefdesBreek. He also published a self-help book, Taking the Face Off. Other books are, Angels Dreams and Visions: Stairways of the soul and a new self-help book: Unlocking the treasures within the mind. Both the self-help books are guides for young people for self development. Dr Grootboom is married to Hilary.Dr Allen Grootboom has been a pillar of strength to our organization for well over a decade. He has proven to be a man of principles who unwaveringly sticks to his guns. We applaud his inner strength and his humility. His creativity and his discipline.I also wish to thank him for his active involvement and hands on approach in his portfolios and his respective constituencies.He has proven to be a people’s person and we say thank you to him for sharing his kindhearted nature with fellow politicians, staff and members of the public. His warmth will indeed be missed in our office.As one member goes, it automatically opens up a space for another to come in. In closing, I therefore also wish to extend a welcome to Ofentse Mokae, who couldn’t be here today due to study commitments, who has been serving as a PR councillor for Sol Plaatje.He will now join the legislature and as much as we will dearly miss Dr Grootboom, we also look forward to starting a new chapter with Ofentse and we trust that his youthfulness will bring a fresh approach to the legislature. Media Enquiries Andrew Louw MPLDA Northern Cape Provincial Leader082 383 6914 Shelley De WittResearcher082 847 1387