ANC says racism should be dealt a blow

5 January 2015

The ANC Western Cape welcomes the South African Human Rights Commission’s probe into a spate of unbridled racism on social media over the festive season. These include the unrepentant estate agent Penny Sparrow, economist Chris Heart, Carron Gouws, Louis Jordaan, Justin van Vuuren, Willie Zietsman and Cookie Pillay.

Various other charges were also brought by aggrieved social media users to institutions like the Equality Court and SAPS as they say they will not be treated as 2nd class citizens again (like under apartheid). This follows remarks that all blacks are monkeys (Sparrow), black people should stay in mud houses (Gouws) to that a Goodwood flat is only available for whites (Zietsman)

The ANC Western Cape calls for real steps and action against those that abuse their freedom of speech to infringe on the rights of other groups on social media, indulge in hate and near hate speech and unfairly discriminating against fellow compatriots.

ANC Western Cape leader Marius Fransman says: "The ANC warned the DA against this kind of fall out. Past DA leader Helen Zille frequently had people of colour on the receiving end of demeaning remarks like ‘refugees’ and even that ANC women in parliament only eat and take up space or indirectly inferring a bigger woman is an elephant.

“Zille and even Western Cape DA leader Patricia de Lille let people off the hook and gave them a slap on the wrists for calling others k@ff!rs in various councils. The decision to return Dianne Kohler Barnard as MP gives licence to DA members like Sparrow to use racist slur and then merely apologise afterwards!

“As the DA harbours many of these people that use race tags and hurt other people, it is better that matters are dealt with by outside statutory institutions like the Human Rights Commission. Just during this spate again the DA failed to wholeheartedly commit itself to transformation and values like non-racialism by passing the buck in the Sparrow matter to other parties to deal with.

“It is time that voters note the DA cannot divorce itself from its racist past – not even under lame duck leader Mmusi Maimane – and would regress back on the apartheid road once in government. Therefore it is necessary that people in their numbers vote against the DA to comprehensively deal with racism and racists (including many white supremacists) in that party!”

Statement issued by ANC Western Cape leader Marius Fransman, 5 January 2016