“Someone out there has to look out for people of colour and we think we are that somebody.”
Those were the words of Compatriots of South Africa president Cheslin Felix.
Compatriots is a new political party in the Port Elizabeth northern areas focusing on the descendents of Khoi and San people.
Felix said the party had registered with the Independent Electoral Commission in July 2018.
They had an interim leadership structure which they reviewed every six months.
“We are in the bullets . . . in the community, in the thick of things, and we see these things happen,” Felix said.
“Five people were killed this weekend alone in Schauderville and we don’t want this to continue happening.
“We see what the [police] minister [Bheki Cele] is doing by deploying the gang unit but it is simply not enough because the only time action is ever taken is when people want votes.”
Felix said “bruin mense” (brown people) did not matter in SA because they were not white or black and that during the past 20 years these forgotten communities in all corners of country had initially placed their trust in the ANC.
After that came their disillusionment and realisation that the ANC “do not give a damn about people other than traditionally black South Africans”.
“They put their trust in the DA, a political party that primarily stood for the empowerment of whites.
“Nonetheless, they believed it would be a better option than the ANC.
“They loaned their vote to the DA for five years amidst promises of building one South Africa for all.
“Today the ‘bruin mense’ are even more disappointed and realise that the DA is just another political party that uses their vote but doesn’t deliver when it counts,” Felix said.
The father of three from Extension 21 said his political activism had started when he was in high school, at Booysen Park Senior Secondary school.
He said in recent years he had grown tired of watching how his people were sidelined from the mainstream economy.
“We are not racist but someone has to look out for brown people,” he said.
Felix said the party had 34,000 members across the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Western Cape.