BLF leader Andile Mngxitama
Image: Gallo Images/Beeld/Deaan Vivier

by Jenna Etheridge, News24

Cape Town, August 24–The South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) expressed shock on Thursday at a tweet by Black Land First (BLF aka “Black First Land First”) party leader Andile Mngxitama claiming the legacy of the Holocaust wasn’t all negative.

In an apparent attempt to put himself back in the media spotlight, Mngxitama tweeted around 5:30 A.M.: “For those claiming the legacy of the holocaust is ONLY negative think about the lampshades and Jewish soap.”

The tweet was possibly a reference to Western Cape premier Helen Zille’s controversial tweets earlier in the year when she said the legacy of colonialism was not all negative. Zille apologized for making the comment.

The SAJBD said it was appalled by Mngxitama’s “crassly offensive, demeaning and hurtful” statement.

“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,” SAJBD president Mary Kluk said.

“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.”

“No Relationship”

Kluk told News24 that she had absolutely no idea why Mngxitama had chosen to target Jewish people.

“I don’t know where it would have come from. It was out of the blue. We have no relationship. It could come out of a personal interaction [with someone].”

She said his overt hateful tweet was an attack on the rights to dignity and equality of Jewish South Africans and should be strongly condemned by all citizens.

“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 most cruel way.”

The SAJBD was considering its options for taking legal action against him.

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) became aware of the tweet when News24 phoned on them Thursday morning.

SAHRC spokesperson Gail Smith said they would provide comment later in the day.

BLF recently supported RSA president Jacob Zuma in a no-confidence vote in parliament. In the period just before that move, Zuma challenged the South African Reserve Bank, South Africa’s private central bank, to explain large cash payments apparently funneled, according to accusations by Zuma and the ANC, to apartheid figures in the early post-apartheid era.

Full story here.

South African Jewish Board of Deupties statement here.