ANT KATZ

10%! You must be joking!

On  January 29 SAJR Online interviewed Johannesburg DA councillor Darren Bergman who had been placed at number 12 on the Gauteng parliamentary list.

During the interview, Bergman predicted that Julius Malema’s (then very) fledgling EFF “can win as many as 10 per cent” of the votes in Gauteng. “These would come directly off the ANC,” he said at the time. Jewish Report was somewhat aghast and asked Darren if that statement was on or off the record – concerned that he may end up red-faced by overstating the red-berets’ performance.

Darren was insistent that his prediction was on the mark and said Jewish Report could publish it. READ THE INTERVIEW

He’ll be an asset in Parliament

As it turned out the EFF got slightly over 10 per cent. Now there’s a politician who knows his oats!

Darren is the councillor who took the “challenging” Ward 32 in the City of Johannesburg municipal elections from the ANC in the last election and managed to create a multiparty ward committee that is extremely functional.

Ward 32 includes some troublesome areas such as Alexandra, Klipfonteinview, Greenstone and Modderfontein. He says he is likely the only councillor in the country where his EFF colleagues refer to him as: “My Leader”, and ANC members of the Ward Committee sent him a Christmas card.” One ANC Ward Committee member even refers to him as “My mentor”.