NEWS & ANALYSIS

Mkongi's office 'can't confirm' if he posted Facebook rant against Maimane

'I think the ANC must unleash us to deal with this white boy', reads post allegedly made by Deputy Police Minister

Mkongi's office 'can't confirm' if he posted Facebook rant against Maimane

30 May 2017

Johannesburg – The office of Deputy Police Minister Bongani Mkongi could not confirm yet that the Facebook account with a post attacking DA leader Mmusi Maimane actually belonged to the deputy minister.

The minister refused to comment to News24, referring all queries to his office.

Mkongi’s spokesperson  Siyabulela Tom,  said: "We are busy following up on the issue of the account itself. We cannot confirm at this stage whether the account belongs to him or not."

"We will comment after we know whether the comments can be attributed to him or not. The deputy minister has only one official Facebook account and there are a lot of other fake accounts that are of concern."

The Facebook post reads: "I think Mmusi Maimane is losing the plot. I think the ANC must unleash us to deal with this white boy. Mmusi Maimane is nothing else but an uneducated child who prey on unsuspecting white girls who wants relevance in a non-racial and democratic South Africa.

"In fact, Mmusi Maimane would never share a bed with a white woman if it was not for the efforts of the ANC, the struggles of our people, and black suffering at large.

"Because that [sic] you can kiss and hug a white woman, you believe it is Alpha and Omega. The ANC must please not regulate some of us to respond to tubbish [sic] and insult directed to our leadership but to unleash us towards a battle of ideas.

"We are not afraid of these boys who are running amok as the Massiahs [sic] of our people. If the Constitution of South Africa can allow Mmusi Maimane to insult our President on national media. What will stop me to tell him shit."

'Social media ravings'

DA MP Zakhele Mbhele said Mkongi was known for making outrageous statements on Facebook.

"Remember he also made statements about burning down the building which had the 'Zuma Must Fall' banner on it, even if there were people inside."

"From a police portfolio perspective, it really shows that he needs to get his head in the game and get his priorities right in setting the example and the tone of how government is tackling the key priority of reducing crime," Mbhele said.

"Both he and Minister Fikile Mbalula seem to be preoccupied with social media ravings and not getting the basics right."

Mbhele said the ANC had used racial stereotyping for many years to demean and undermine black leaders in the DA.

"For most of us, it is something that we have become immune to... I think that it is the increasing anxiety that the people in the ANC are starting to feel ahead of the 2019 election. We know that, as the ANC feels more pressure or cornered, they resort more to the racial rhetoric to try and deflect from the substantial issues that they are facing."

He said he had not spoken to Maimane, but thought that the leader would shrug the comments off.

News24