Cape Town – A white woman has received a lot of backlash online after making a comment suggesting that the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, should be assassinated like Chris Hani, a late leader of the South African Communist Party.
The comment was made in response to a news story about Mantashe snubbing a billion-dollar green hydrogen deal.
The woman, Nicole Barlow, later deleted the tweet and admitted that her comment was distasteful and wrong.
Many social media users are calling for action by the South African Human Rights Commission and the police, condemning Barlow’s statement as unacceptable.
Barlow acknowledged her hypocrisy in criticising EFF leader Julius Malema for inciting violence while engaging in similar behavior herself. She attributed her lapse in judgment to her frustration with the corruption of the ANC and expressed regret for her comment.
“I agree it is grossly hypocritical to criticise [EFF leader] Julius Malema for publicly inciting violence and promoting the killing of white farmers (Boers) only for me to turn around and do it as well.
“One should never fall into the trap of engaging with one’s enemy through cheap point scoring and insults.
“I have spent 20 years fighting the ANC and the devastating impact their corruption has had on our environment, and for a split second I allowed my jaded perspective of them to cloud my judgement, and that was wrong,” she said.
This move by racists is so predictable … first the violence with intent to harm and when called out, the gear switch to the justification and feigned concern for black people.
Oh and now the tweet is deleted. 🙄 pic.twitter.com/bOiq3B7YMw
— Bianca van Wyk (@BiancavanWyk16) June 25, 2023
Since when is calling for the assassination of a senior politician “a jaded view”?
This is a poor attempt at apology and you lack an understanding of how racist your tweet was!
— Africa Research Desk (@MightiJamie) June 25, 2023
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Source: AFP
Picture: Twitter/ @Puleng_Nathane
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