Race remains the ANC’s default position in the Free State Legislature

Issued by Dr Roy Jankielsohn MPL – Leader of the Official Opposition in the Free State Legislature
15 Oct 2020 in Press Statements

Note to Editors: Please click here for a video from ANC Member of the Free State Legislature and Chairperson of Chairpersons Mr Mojalefa Buti MPL.

The Member’s Statement in the Free State Legislature on Tuesday by the Chairperson of Chairpersons Mr Mojalefa Buti deliberately seeks to racialize the incident that took place at the courts in Senekal. The statement reads as follows:

Thank you, Madam Speaker, as the African National Congress, we condemn the act that seeks to reverse the gains of democracy in the form of what has transpired in Senekal, where the white farmers decided to undermine the system of justice and demonstrate openly their adherence to the apartheid tendencies, where the apartheid flag was flying around; where there were live ammunitions in the hands of civilians. We condemn that for the fact that the police department has managed to arrest the alleged suspects. It was not necessary that they should attempt to take the law into their own hands.”

The ANC has a right to condemn acts of violence, but using racial profiling and generalisations to attempt to portray, not even “some” or “a few”, but “the white farmers” as undermining the system of justice and adhering to apartheid tendencies adds to racial tensions in society. Not all the people involved with the incident at the Senekal Magistrate’s Court were farmers, and acts of violence are not restricted a to a single racial group in South Africa. The DA regards the statement as irresponsible and does not contribute to diffusing the growing tensions around the legitimate concerns and frustration around the scourge of violent farm attacks on farmers and farm workers across the Free State and South Africa. These attacks are often accompanied by torture, violence, rape and murder.

On the same day that Minister of Police Bheki Cele and Minister of State Security Ayanda Dlodlo were meeting with farmers and the family of the murder victim Brendin Horner to discuss the issue of rural crime, the ANC in the Free State Legislature were undermining these initiatives. It is clear that the ANC’s default position around the agricultural community, like that of their ideological ZANU PF allies in Zimbabwe whom they recently visited, remains the race card.