POLITICS

SAHRC must investigate Xingwana - Mmusi Maimane

DA spokesperson's says minister's comments on Afrikaner men offensive and divisive

HRC must investigate Lulu Xingwana's comments on Afrikaans-speaking men 

In an interview with an Australian News Channel, the Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Lulu Xingwana, reportedly said in reference to the ongoing Oscar Pistorius murder investigation that:

"Young Afrikaner men are brought up in the Calvinist religion believing that they own a woman, they own a child, they own everything and therefore they can take that life because they own it."

This is an offensive and divisive remark. The HRC must investigate it; and the Minister should apologise and formally withdraw her comment. 

It is utterly unacceptable for Minister Xingwana to suggest that any South African culture is conducive to murder. 

The minister was engaging in a gross generalisation which is offensive and ill-informed. A government Minister, representing all South Africans on a foreign news station, should not be making offensive remarks about the people she purports to represent. 

Secondly, the Minister was commenting on a very sensitive matter currently before the courts. It would have been prudent for Minister Xingwana to refrain from commenting on an ongoing investigation. 

No ethnic or racial group can be singled out in the fight on violence against women and children. It is a societal problem that we must all face together.

Statement issued by Mmusi Maimane, DA National Spokesperson, February 27 2013

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