AfriForum condemns racist, conspiratorial claims by the Director-General of Public Enterprises, shared by the Department of Public Enterprises

13 April 2021  

AfriForum condemns the vile claims made by Kgathatso Tlhakudi, the Director-General of Public Enterprises, last week in an opinion piece, which were shared by the official Department of Public Enterprises Twitter account (@DPE_ZA), regarding white SAA pilots and the Regulating Agreement with SAA. Tlhakudi and the official DPE Twitter account attacked white members of the South African Airways Pilots Association (SAAPA), claiming that “White SAA Pilots Wish to Maintain a Self-enriching Apartheid Relic Labour Agreement.”

It should be noted that nowhere in the Regulating Agreement document does it refer to race, background or colour. AfriForum urges Pravin Gordhan, the Minister of Public Enterprises, to distance himself from these racist slurs from the Director-General and the Department, and to have them retracted.

“These claims were made under the guise of criticising SAA’s Regulating Agreement, but in reality it was nothing more than a racist, immoral attack on white pilots based on their skin colour. This anti-white tirade by a government official and an official government account is beyond the pale. It is the depravity of race-obsessed politicians on display,” says Ernst van Zyl, Campaign Officer for strategy and content at AfriForum.

“Minority groups have historically always been easy scapegoats for the corruption and shortcomings of ruling parties and politicians, and Tlhakudi’s opinion piece and the Department’s posts are exactly that: conspiratorial scapegoating of a racial minority to distract attention from their own failings. It is unacceptable conduct,” Van Zyl concludes.

AfriForum hopes to see a response from the Minister of Public Enterprises soon and that Tlhakudi and the Department retract these racist statements.

Why White SAA Pilots Wish to Maintain a Self-enriching Apartheid Relic Labour Agreement: pic.twitter.com/qHdSpcf5UP

— DPE_ZA (@DPE_ZA) April 12, 2021

Issued by Chanté Kelder, Media Relations Officer, AfriForum, 13 April 2021