ID'S HANIFF HOOSEN EXPRESSES ‘DEEP REGRET' OVER ANC'S DECISION TO GO AHEAD WITH HATE SPEECH APPEAL

Haniff Hoosen, the ID Secretary-General, has expressed ‘deep regret' over the ANC's decision to continue with its appeal against the recent Johannesburg High Court ruling on Friday last week that the ANC song "Ayesaba Amagwala" was "unlawful and unconstitutional."

The ANC's decision comes just 2 days after the ID Member of Parliament wrote an open letter to his ANC counterpart, Gwede Mantashe, imploring him ‘to rise above the current tit-for-tat racial squabbles in our country, which are achieving nothing more than taking our country backwards.'

‘Calling the court ruling "incompetent" and "unimplementable" shows a dangerous disregard for the courts,' Mr Hoosen says.

‘By failing to use this opportunity to show mature leadership and levelheadedness, the ANC has missed the point completely.

‘Even if the ANC's legal interpretation is correct and they pursue their appeal and win, our nation will still be the biggest loser.

‘Our nation does not need leaders that get involved in these petty squabbles, it needs leaders that rise above them and reach out to all sectors of our society. It was a vain hope on my part that Mantashe would honour the role played by Nelson Mandela in bringing about unity and reconciliation for our nation,' says Hoosen.

Mantashe's belief that the PAC youth wing's comments about the ANCYL were not just hate speech, but also a "public declaration of the intention to kill," showed that ‘the ANC either suffers from organisational amnesia, or does not have the very basic ability to join the dots,' says Hoosen.

‘We cannot ignore the irony of a party such as the ANC not seeing the "Kill for Zuma" comments by some in its leadership a little more than a year ago as a "public declaration of the intention to kill", and then reacting very differently now.'

‘This is what happens when leaders practice double standards - eventually it becomes impossible for them to see right and from wrong,' Hoosen says.

Statement issued by Haniff Hoosen, Independent Democrats, March 31 2010

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