MK party Member of Parliament Andile Mngxitama. Picture: Nigel Sibanda
Andile Mngxitama’s swearing-in as Member of Parliament (MP) earlier this week has prompted demands for an equal application of moral outrage.
The former Black First Land First (BLF) leader was sworn in on Tuesday with fellow uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party members. His detractors have questioned his fitness to hold the prestigious role of MP.
A petition to have him removed as an MP was created after a video of Mngxitama calling for violence against white people regained traction online.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) suspended their MP, Renaldo Gouws, a few days after his swearing-in after outrage over a YouTube video from March 2010.
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In the video, Gouws used offensive racial slurs while making comparisons to the ‘Kill the Boer’ chant, while in Mngxitama’s video, he calls for the killing of white people and their pets.
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) declared its intention to take Gouws to the Equality Court. It is yet to be seen if they will replicate their stance with Mngxitama.
A petition was launched by Concerned Citizens on Tuesday, 25 June, the day Mngxitama was sworn in. Titled Demand the Disqualification of Andile Mngxitama from the South African Parliament, the Change.org petition calls for the MK party member to face the Equality Court. As of midday on Thursday, it had gathered 11,216 signatures.
The Citizen reached out to the SAHRC on Thursday, 27 June, for clarification on their intentions but no response had been received at the time of publication.
To counter the anti-Mngxitama petition, Umlhaba Wethu (Our World) started the Protect Honourable Andile Mngxitama from persecution by racists petition. It was started on 26 June, the day after the anti-Mngxitama petition was posted. As of midday on Thursday, that petition had 6,354 signatures.
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As for Gouws, he had a short-lived BackaBuddy campaign that the platform shut down in less than 24 hours.
Sky News Australia recently ran a segment about Mngxitama, with the South African politician responding via his X account. See below.
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