DA reaction to ANC decision to appeal High Court judgement

What message is the ANC sending to South Africans and the world, when it appeals against a High Court ruling declaring the words "kill the farmer, kill the whites"  to be hate speech?

There can only be one conclusion:  that the ANC is justifying incitement to murder people on the basis of their race in the new South Africa.

This goes against every tenet of our rights based Constitution.

It is pure sophistry to suggest that this is part of a "culture".  There are many aspects of the cultural history of all groups in South Africa that have no place in a rights-based democracy.   Sexism and Racism were also parts of South Africa's culture, and today all democrats work together, from across the spectrum, to eradicate these evils.

Incitement to murder cannot be justified in any way and cannot be explained away as a metaphor.

We recall President Mandela and the NEC of the ANC rebuking Peter Mokaba when he sang these words in the mid-1990s.  President Mandela made it clear that these words were irreconcilable with the project of nation building.

The fact that the ANC is seeking to defend this hate-speech today, shows how far that organization has deviated from President Mandela's vision. 

The entire world will be appalled that the government of a constitutional democracy is seeking to justify incitement to murder people on the basis of their race and ethnic origin.

Ironically, President Zuma has justified the ANC's decision to appeal, saying that we must build "tolerance" for one another and respect each other's cultures.  Since when was incitement to murder an acceptable part of any culture?  This has never been Africa's culture as far as the DA is aware.  Even more ironically, the ANC has accused people of running a campaign against Malema that could result in a Chris Hani-style assassination.  As far as we know, no-one has called for Malema to be killed.  Indeed, he is calling for people to be killed.  And this is not a theoretical call either, given the number of farmers who have been murdered in South Africa in recent years.

We urge the ANC to re-think this very short-sighted and tragic decision, which sends a ghastly message to South Africans and the world about how the ANC views the sanctity of human life, and the non-racial principles of our Constitution.

Statement issued by Helen Zille, Democratic Alliance leader, March 30 2010

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter