AfriForum considers action against Magashule’s insinuation that xenophobic violence should be turned against white people 

5 September 2019

The civil rights organisation AfriForum has condemned remarks by Ace Magashule, secretary-general of the ANC, yesterday at the Tshwane University of Technology in which he, among other things, insinuated that the xenophobic violence should be turned against white people. AfriForum is consulting its legal team and other experts in connection with action against Magashule.

Among other things, Magashule said the following:

"You are South Africans but remember, you are Africans, living in a continent called Africa. Never despise people who have the same skin colour [as] us. There are many others with a whitish colour. You don't know them. They are there. You see them all the time but you can't say this one [is] ke le kwerekwere. They have never been attacked because they are also so-called foreigners but because their colour is white.”

“Magashule’s remarks are a racist attack on a vulnerable minority in South Africa. Given his high position as secretary-general of the governing ANC and the lack of comment from President Cyril Ramaphosa, Mashule’s remarks may be interpreted as the ANC’s official stance on the xenophobic violence crisis in the country. Instead of taking steps to try to solve the violence, Magashule’s message is simply that the target of the violence should be changed,” says Monique Taute, AfriForum’s head of campaigns.

AfriForum will continue its campaign to raise international awareness of the suppression of the rights of minorities in South Africa.

Issued by Carina Bester, Media Relations Officer, AfriForum, 5 September 2019