FF+’s Pieter Groenewald loses his cool over Steve Hofmeyr question

On the red carpet ahead of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s state of the nation address (Sona) on Thursday, Freedom Front Plus (FF+) leader Pieter Groenewald was asked a question by an eNCA journalist about the recent controversies surrounding tweets from Zindzi Mandela-Hlongwane and Steve Hofmeyr.

“I didn’t read the Twitter messages of Steve Homeyr,” Groenewald answered.

“I am on the record to say we are going to ask that the minister must call the ambassador from Denmark to find out what the real facts are and then she must apologise to the people of South Africa. I don’t know about the tweets of Steve Hofmeyr,” he continued.

The interviewer then offered to tell Groenewald what Hofmeyr had said on Twitter.

READ MORE: Steve Hofmeyr issues ‘death threats’ to Phumzile Van Damme, Zindzi Mandela

“No, I’m not even going to respond what you say he said,” an increasingly annoyed Groenewald responded.

“Let me say to you, if he said anything racist he must also apologise, it’s as simple as that, I reject any form of racism,” he continued.

At this point another eNCA journalist interjected, asking why Groenewald had found time to fill himself in about Zindzi Mandela-Hlongwane’s tweets but not Hofmeyr’s.

This appeared to anger Groenewald, who snapped back: “Clearly you don’t know what my program is, I’m not on Twitter all the time. I saw the message from the Mandela about two or three days later so don’t you come and tell me what I have to do.”

Groenewald quickly grew horns 👹👿👀
Almost moered Samkelo there.

Well done @samkelemaseko 👌🏾#SONA2019 #6thParliament #SteveHofmeyr #HandsOffZindziMandela pic.twitter.com/coxvKT8Bpa

— Kwakhanya (@Kwakhan03679240) June 20, 2019

This follows controversial tweets from an unverified Twitter account believed to be Mandela-Hlongwane’s under the hashtag #OurLand.

These included a tweet about “trembling white cowards” who are the “thieving rapist descendants of Van Riebeck [sic]” and one saying that Zindzi was “wondering how the world of shivering land thieves is doing” while out “wining and dining” at a restaurant.

In response to this, Hofmeyr addressed Mandela-Hlongwane in a tweet of his own, alongside DA MP Phumzile van Damme, who recently punched a man at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town in what she said was an act of self-defence following an allegedly racist incident.

READ MORE: Phumzile Van Damme punches man in the head following race argument

The tweet, which has been interpreted by some as a death threat and has led to both the ANC and Van Damme announcing that they would be pressing charges against Hofmeyr, said:

“Dear @zilevandamme and @ZindziMandela I’m a South African tax-paying citizen. Effectively, I AM your boss. You WILL jump when I say so and you WILL ask how high. And when you come to take our lives&land, you WILL die. Our contract is that simple. And don’t you forget it.”

(Compiled by Daniel Friedman)

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