AfriForum condemns offensive and inflammatory statements
AfriForum made an urgent appeal to citizens, and especially those in leadership positions, to not make offensive or inflammatory statements or distribute videos containing such statements that could cause tension between citizens and different cultural communities. According to AfriForum, it is essential to always act with mutual recognition and respect towards all cultural communities and citizens. AfriForum’s appeal follows after a video, in which seriously offensive and threatening language was used, was widely distributed on social media in the past week, and several government officials and political leaders also made offensive and inflammatory statements that increase tension between cultural communities.
“AfriForum unequivocally condemns the offensive and threatening language directed at other cultural communities used in the video. To brand AfriForum, a civil rights organisation that acts in the interest of citizens, as “unpatriotic” and “very racist”, as the ANC’s First Deputy Secretary-General, Nomvula Mokonyane, did, is also unacceptable,” says Barend Uys, Head of Intercultural Relations and Cooperation at AfriForum.
AfriForum also considers the statement by Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri, National Spokesperson of the ANC, that AfriForum “should not be left alone” in a very serious light. “Her claim that the ANC’s ‘focus should be on uniting South Africans’ is not in line with the party’s divisive actions and statements towards AfriForum. Contrary to what she claims, it is the ANC’s domestic and foreign policies that have caused the damage to South Africa’s image,” explains Uys.
The civil rights organisation also emphasises that the statement made by Vincent Magwenya, Spokesperson for the Presidency, that AfriForum is “sowing racial divisions and sowing fear” is simply untrue. “AfriForum actively works with different traditional communities and in towns across cultural boundaries to improve the living conditions of citizens at grassroots level. It is precisely statements by government officials like Magwenya and politicians such as Bhengu-Motsiri that, in reality, cause racial division and jeopardise peaceful coexistence in South Africa. The ANC is actually accusing AfriForum of that of what they themselves are guilty of,” concludes Uys.
Cover image: Vincent Magwenya, Spokesperson of the Precidency (GovernmentZA, Flickr)
