Fazel MayetThe Ahmed Kathrada Foundation has noted the recent comments made by Velaphi Khumalo.
As with the Penny Sparrow incident, we strongly condemn Khumalo’s racist statements. We also condemn his call to ‘act as Hitler did to the Jews’ and ‘cleanse’ South Africa of white people. It is outrageous that Khumalo can invoke the horrors of the Holocaust, adding that it should be repeated – implying that white South Africans must be killed in a similar manner. This is clearly a case of hate speech.
Although the comments were posted on Khumalo’s Facebook page, he is an employee of the Gauteng sports, arts, culture and recreation department.
Public servants are meant to serve everyone, irrespective of race. If Khumalo believes that white people should be “cleansed” from South Africa, then he clearly should not be working as a public servant. There is no place for racists within the public service.
We commend the department for speedily reacting to Khumalo’s online post by distancing itself from the comments and instituting an internal process to address the matter. “
