By Howard Feldman
A Tweet that will not wash away anytime soon
I was about halfway through my second cup of coffee this morning when I saw the tweet. It read as follows:
“For those claiming that the legacy of the holocaust is ONLY negative, think about lampshades and Jewish soap.”
Andile Mngxitama
The tweet was sent to 75,000 followers.
Andile Mngxitama the founder of the Black First Land First movement – BLF)
I read it again. And again – at first, I didn’t believe that it was possible for a person to be so vile but then found it difficult to imagine that someone could also be so stupid. Or so attention seeking. Or pathetic. Because no matter your political view on anything, there can be little gained by evoking this horror.
Andile Mngxitama is the founder of the Black First Land First movement – known as BLF. The BLF is a “pan-Africanist and revolutionary socialist political party in South Africa”. Which is nice. But it also claims the following, “We are a people crying for our stolen land! Now we have decided to get it back by any means necessary. By any means necessary means without regard to famine, bloodshed or deteriorating as Zimbabwe did as our spiritual well-being demands it.” [sic]
Which might be disconcerting if it made any sense at all.
A Tweet by Andile Mngxitamas’, the founder of the Black First Land First movement -BLF. (24/08/2017).
Which of course it really doesn’t.
Besides being incomprehensible, Andile Mngxitama is also a known bully. He has shown up at the homes of journalists in South Africa along with his band of followers to threaten and to intimidate them. He further has known links to the Gupta family, a corrupt bunch who have been implicated in the State of Capture Report and who are responsible for much of South Africa’s economic woes.
Mngxitama’s friends have taken affective control of President Jacob Zuma as well as control of the ANC government along with state enterprises. It’s a list too long to mention but South Africans are still reeling from the impact that and the magnitude of the corruption. The family further was known to have employed the PR firm Bell Pottinger in the UK to create a campaign that would divide South Africans along racial lines. A campaign that created the phrase “White Monopoly Capital” which allowed the corrupt government to loot state coffers whilst screaming “Racist!”
Another Tweet by Andile Mngxitamas’ (24/08/2017).
These are his bedfellows.
The context to the tweet might be as follows; A few months ago, Helen Zille, Premier of the Western Cape tweeted that there were some positive outcomes of colonialism. The tweet effectively ended her political career. South Africans were offended and hurt, and Zille faced the wrath of both the public and her party. Although Mngxitama did not link his tweet to Zille, it is conceivable that he was trying to make the connection and to show how offensive Zille’s comment was. But what he did instead was to offend so deeply that it is hard to imagine where he goes from here.
The South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBOD) was quick to issue a response.
The SAJBD is appalled by the crassly offensive, demeaning, and hurtful comment made this morning by Black First Land First (BLF) leader Andile Mngxitama. In a tweet, Mngxitama wrote, “For those claiming the legacy of the holocaust is ONLY negative think about the lampshades and Jewish soap.”
With this ugly jeering remark, Mngxitama has portrayed not just the deliberate murder of Jewish people but even the supposed reduction of their remains to everyday objects as something to be treated as a joke. It is deeply distressing that anyone could so casually and publicly dehumanise an entire people in this way.
How much more outrageous it is when emanating from a public figure who heads up a political voice.
Mngxitama’s scoffing reference to how Jews became victims of one of history’s most appalling crimes displays outright contempt for basic humanitarian, non-racial values, together with a complete lack of compassion for human suffering. His overtly hateful tweet is a flagrant attack on the fundamental rights to dignity and equality of Jewish South Africans and should be strongly condemned by all in our country. Civilised society, and certainly South Africa with its stained history of human rights abuses, has no place for those who condone the merciless massacre of millions of innocent people in the cruellest way.
The SAJBD is currently reviewing its options in terms of what action to take against Mngxitama.
The Board’s statement is fine, albeit a little long for my tastes. Perhaps he will reconsider tweeting so offensively if every time he does so, he knows he will receive a response that will take him 45 min to read. It’s not a bad strategy if one considers the alternatives.
What is more interesting is what happens next.
South Africans are constantly outraged by racism on social media. Local radio stations thrive on it and devote days to unpicking the nuances of bigotry – when the racism isn’t anti-Semitism. It remains to be seen if there will be a reaction from anyone other than the Jewish community.
Will South Africans stand up in defense of its Jewish population?
That is the billion Rand question!
