Mashaba says those who claim there is a genocide of white people in South Africa should be called to parliament and produce evidence.
ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba. Picture: Michel Bega
ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba has accused a group of white people who held a rally outside the United States (US) embassy in Pretoria of being traitors.
On Saturday, hundreds of white South Africans gathered outside the US embassy. They handed a petition addressed to US President Donald Trump, seeking US support to change policies and laws affecting the Afrikaner community in South Africa.
ALSO READ: US Embassy to submit petition from white South Africans to Trump
The group complained about several laws which they claimed targeted white people. There were claims that the apartheid national anthem, Die Stem, had also been sung at the same gathering.
‘I regard these people as traitors’
However, Mashaba told The Citizen on Monday that the group should be held accountable for their “treasonous” actions.
“I regard these people as traitors. We live in a constitutional democracy. They know where our government offices are. If they believe the US government supersedes our constitution, they are traitors,” he said.
Mashaba said white South Africans with evidence of genocide should submit that information to the police and local authorities.
“If they have evidence, why don’t they present it to us, the people of South Africa, through our government? But to present it to a foreign government is a problem,” he said.
Mashaba: Where is the evidence of genocide?
Mashaba said those who are complaining about the genocide of white farmers should come and present their evidence in front of parliament.
“They need to be called [to] inform of parliament because the president and parliament have the power to summon anyone who threatens the security of the country to account.
“What they are doing is being traitors of our country, and they should not be forgiven for this,” he said.
According to Mashaba, more black people in the country are affected by crime than white people.
“If you look at the people who are affected by crime and murdered every day, a majority of them are black people. A small percentage of white people are affected by this. South Africa has been characterised by violence since the apartheid days, people being forced off their land and forced off their properties,” he said.
Mashaba said he fully supports the Expropriation Act. The Act has caused tensions between South Africa and the US government.
“The land issue must be addressed unapologetically; section 25 of our constitution addresses this. Section 25 allows expropriation of land without compensation in the event that this land is not utilised and the government needs it for public use or maybe the land owner is being ridiculous in their demands for the piece of land,” he said.
AfriForum accused of misinformation
The MK party has also accused lobby group AfriForum of treason.
This comes after AfriForum allegedly spread misinformation on various public platforms in the US about the alleged mistreatment of white people in South Africa.
Following these allegations, US President Donald Trump cancelled US foreign aid to South Africa and offered Afrikaans farmers refugee status in the US.
However, some Afrikaners said they would not accept the offer to move to the US. Instead, they asked the US government to put pressure on the South African government to change its “racist” laws.
They further dismissed accusations of treason, blaming the government and ANC for implementing policies “targeting” white people.
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