IRR to investigate racial tensions in North KZN

6 October 2021

On 28 September Qiniso Dlamini (17) was fatally shot during a scuffle with farmer Garth Simpson (68) near Glencoe, in Northern KwaZulu-Natal. The IRR has sent two Daily Friend writers, Terence Corrigan and Caiden Lang, on a fact-finding mission to the area.

Members of the public drew to the IRR’s attention the fact that people picketing during Garth Simpson’s arraignment last week chanted racist slogans and bore a placard reading “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer”.

Racial revanchism must be halted and attempts to inflame racial tensions must be checked against facts.

The Daily Friend has published a video of the 28 September incident, which sheds light on the sequence of events leading to Dlamini’s death, and raises questions about the narrative upon which the murder charge against Simpson has been framed.

The IRR cautions against the risks of reaching premature conclusions, and inflaming prejudice, in the absence of a sober appraisal of the facts.

The pattern and practice of political agents provocateurs jumping to conclusions that stigmatize racial minorities is alarming and well-recorded by the IRR. The solution does not lie in stigmatizing, or valorizing, people on the basis of their race, but rather in treating individual cases with particular, empirical interest. The same must apply to reporting on activities surrounding today’s bail hearing.

Corrigan and Lang reported that community members described the atmosphere in Glencoe this morning, pending Simpson’s bail hearing, as “very tense”. The IRR trusts that the strong and apparently well-coordinated police presence outside the Glencoe magistrate’s court will keep the peace.

Issued by Gabriel Crouse, IRR Head of Campaigns, 6 October 2021