Former Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) media and communications director Mdu Lembede says South Africans must reconcile or risk plunging the country into civil war.
He dismissed Belinda Magor’s derogatory and racist remarks, saying they did not represent the views of all white people. In her speech against the pit bull terrier ban, Magor called for the killing and castration of black people. But Lembede says this cannot be allowed to further divide the nation.
“There are over 50 million South Africans, the words of one man should not determine the direction we take as a people. So when one white person talks bad about black people, we shouldn’t take it as if all white people are fighting all black people, or if a black person comes on stage and talks bad about white people, we throw our hands in the air and say that we went back to 1994. No, that’s not true, we have to move forward, we can’t afford to be cut-throat fanatics.’
Azapo picket
On Monday, members of the Azani People’s Organization (Azapo) picketed outside the estate where Belinda Magor is believed to live in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg.
A 60-year-old man was arrested over the weekend and released with a warning for allegedly calling black people rapists and thieves and suggesting they be banned and killed.
She allegedly made the comments amid calls for pit bulls to be banned following a spate of attacks on young children.
A criminal case has been opened against her and she is expected to appear in court next March after being released on caution.
Azapo’s Gaontabele Nodoba said: “The picketing is mainly to evoke our discomfort, our disapproval and condemnation of the racist, nasty and disrespectful remarks she has made against black people in general, black women in particular, and as Azapo we say , that there is no place here. for racists in this country.”
