Staff Reporter
The ANC in the Free State has suspended Matjhabeng Local Municipality mayor Nkosinjani Speelman for using a racially offensive word while addressing soldiers on the enforcing of lockdown rules in the mining town of Welkom.
His suspension comes after a video of him asking the army to use force against “boesmans” – a derogatory term used to describe coloured people during the apartheid era – went viral.
“In Bronville, you know some of the ‘boesmans’, they take some chances; don’t hesitate. I talked to them yesterday, but when you close them (down), they get out and drink again,” he said in his welcoming address to members of the South African National Defence Force arriving in Welkom this week.
Speelman added that the soldiers must “skop and donner” if necessary and that he would support them.
The ANC in the province was not amused by the mayor’s utterances and decided to suspend him with immediate effect for allegedly violating a provision of the party’s constitution “which prohibits and classifies as misconduct all forms of racist utterances”.
“The officials of the ANC met and considered the issue about the unfortunate racist and regrettable utterances of the mayor of Matjhabeng, Cde Nkosinjani Speelman, while making a welcoming address to members of the South African National Defence Force arriving in Welkom,” provincial party spokesperson Thabo Meeko said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.
“These utterances are uncalled for from an ANC leader and a deployee of the ANC and do not represent the views of the ANC regarding the standing of coloured people in the country.
“In light of the seriousness of the utterances, the officials have decided to temporarily suspend Cde Nkosinjani Speelman as both member of the ANC and public representative.”