Staff Reporter
The Democratic Alliance (DA) says it will report suspended Matjhabeng Local Municipality mayor Nkosinjani Speelman to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) for the racist and xenophobic comments he made when addressing a military parade this week.
“The DA will lodge a complaint with the SAHRC following the racist, xenophobic and violent comments made by . . . mayor Speelman while addressing members of the South African National Defense Force,” DA leader in the Free State, Patricia Kopane, said in a statement.
In a video, widely circulated on social media, Speelman can be heard using racist slurs when referring to residents of Bronville in the mining town of Welkom and inferring that they are alcoholics.
He then said he wished the army could stay for two years as he has a lot of problems with “so-called non-South African citizens . . . the (Pakistanis) and the Nigerians”.
Speelman also encouraged the army deployed there to enforce the lockdown to “skop en donner” people found violating the lockdown regulations.
“The DA denounces these racist, xenophobic and violent remarks in the strongest possible terms,”Kopane said.
“Vile statements, like these made by Speelman, only serve to divide South Africans at a time when we should all be working together to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The provincial DA leader said South Africa was a democratic state where the rule of law and the constitution should be adhered to at all times.
The party also urged residents of Matjhabeng and the entire Free State to report any acts of violence and abuse by law-enforcement officers.
The ANC in the province announced its decision to suspend Speelman with immediate effect on Wednesday for allegedly violating a provision of the party’s constitution “which prohibits and classifies as misconduct all forms of racist utterances”.