Sør-Arikas president Jacob Zuma hadde som valgkampsang den gamle ANC-sangen “Gi meg mitt maskingevær”. Leder av ANCs ungdomsforbund, Julius Malema, følger opp og synger “Drep boerne”. Sangen er forbudt av høyesterett, men Malema synger den utfordrende, og Zuma stanser ham ikke.
Malema var i Zimbabwe da nyheten kom om at Eugene Terre Blanche var drept. Malema ble møtt med “drep boerne”-sangen. Malema kvitterte med å si at Zimbabwe har vist vei når det gjelder konfiskasjon av hvites gårder. Ikke bare det, han sa de også krevde å få gruvene.
Dette er meget høyt spill. Det er stor misnøye blant de fattige i Sør-Afrika. Forventningene er ikke innfridd. ANC-eliten har visst å sørge for seg selv. Det er lett å la misnøyen og frustrasjonen gå ut over hvite.
Myndighetene forsøker å kategorisere drap og overfall som vanlig kriminalitet, ikke rasemotsetninger. Det er umulig å trekke et slikt skille, sier dokumentar-filmskaper Nick Bloomington til BBC. Han sier det er stor spenning mellom svarte og hvite.
For et drøyt år siden var det pogromer mot gjestearbeidere fra andre afrikanske land. De ble hakket til døde og husene brent ned.
Myndighetene er oppsatt på at VM i fotball skal avvikles i rolige former. Derfor er det uforståelig at Zuma lar Malema få uttale seg som han gjør.
Skulle mobb fordrive hvite farmere og overta gruvene kan Sør-Afrika gå virkelig harde tider i møte.
Norske medier er tilbakeholende i omtalen av rasismen og hatet mot det hvite mindretallet. Terre Blanche var usympatisk, og rasistisk, men derfra til å ønske hans død velkommen er et stort sprang. De som ønsker polarisering og konflikt, hilser drapet velkommen, skriver Ray Hartley i avisen The Times.
Those who would like to polarise South Africa are rubbing their hands with glee at the murder of Eugene Terre Blanche with sickening excitement.
Murdered by two farmworkers after a dispute over R600 in wages, Terre Blanche has been saved from a legacy as a racist thug who beat a petrol attendant so badly he lost his mental faculties. He is now a national symbol for those who believe that farm murders are political acts aimed at driving whites from the land.On paper, the ANC has recently been at pains to reassure farmers that it has no intention of nationalising the land as was suggested in an official discussion document.
But in Zimbabwe, its Youth League president, Julius Malema has just been given a rousing heroes welcome by Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF. The “Kill the Boer” song was sung in his honour.Then, after addressing a rally of 2000 Zanu-PF youth (a dissapointing tournout?), Malema said:
“In SA we are just starting. Here in Zimbabwe you are already very far. The land question has been addressed. We are very happy that today you can account for more than 300000 new farmers against the 4000 who used to dominate agriculture. We hear you are now going straight to the mines. That’s what we are going to be doing in South Africa.
“We want the mines. They have been exploiting our minerals for a long time. Now it’s our turn to also enjoy from these minerals. They are so bright, they are colourful, we refer to them as white people, maybe their colour came as a result of exploiting our minerals and perhaps if some of us can get opportunities in these minerals we can develop some nice colour like them.”
Malema’s words are chilling. They remind one of the sort of racist rhetoric practised by Terre Blanche.
But there is a stark difference.
Terre Blanche was always on the fringes of power and had become somewhat of a comic figure.Malema is a member of a highly dominant ruling party and he is being indulged by its leaders, suggesting a best a passive indifference to his rhetoric, at worst quiet support for what he is saying.
The ANC must wake up to the monster it is creating by allowing Malema to occupy the public arena without contradiction. Jacob Zuma’s comment that it is a free country and all can do as they please is evidence of very weak leadership. His predecessor Thabo Mbeki would not have tolerated this sort of rubbish.
In the absence of political censure, the courts are stepping in to narrow the definition of free speech. This is a very regrettable turn of events. The ANC must lead. Leadership means being willing to be unpopular.
The fall of Eugene Terre Blanche and the rise of Julius Malema