FF Plus warns Lesufi to stop his tirade against Afrikaans
17 September 2019
The FF Plus herewith issues a serious warning to Panyaza Lesufi, MEC for Education in Gauteng, to stop his constant tirade against Afrikaans as well as his harassment of Afrikaans-speaking communities. It causes needless polarisation among communities and could have serious consequences.
Lesufi's behaviour, despite being apparently childish and indicative of someone who has an unhealthy obsession, can in some cases, like Hoërskool Overvaal, get completely out of control and lead to violence that endangers the lives of children, teachers and parents.
He recently again raged against Afrikaans by tweeting a warning on twitter against the building of new premises for Sol-tech, which offers tertiary education in Afrikaans.
The MEC has made a habit of equating Afrikaans as a medium of instruction with racism, particularly on twitter. There have been numerous tweets by Lesufi in which he, among other things, agrees with other people that Afrikaans is a problem in schools and that the language must be done away with.
He himself also tweets messages like the one opposing the building of the new Sol-tech campus in which he just assumes that the Afrikaans nature of the campus will entail racial segregation.
The FF Plus (adv Alberts) has taken on Lesufi on twitter numerous times because he sees racism where there is no racism; after such responses, he usually quiets down just to find some other issue that he can rant about.
It is clear that the MEC has a problem with Afrikaans and he must be called to order. The FF Plus is planning to take steps against him and will issue a declaration in that regard in due time.
The FF Plus lodged a complaint against Lesufi with the Integrity Commissioner of the Gauteng Legislature earlier this year after he referred to white children as "klein basies", a term that automatically branded these children as racists. We are still awaiting the ruling of the Commissioner.
Issued by Anton Alberts, FF Plus national chairperson and MPL in Gauteng Legislature, 17 September 2019
