The Holocaust not ‘ONLY negative’, says Mngxitama

Black First Land First (BLF) leader Andile Mngxitama found himself in the firing line on Thursday after a comment that left social media users fuming.

The BLF and Western Cape premier Helen Zille had their day in court on Thursday morning after the party laid criminal charges against Zille for her tweets on colonialism earlier this year.

In a series of tweets in March, Zille tweeted: “For those claiming legacy of colonialism was ONLY negative, think of our independent judiciary, transport infrastructure, piped water etc.

“Would we have had a transition into specialised health care and medication without colonial influence? Just be honest, please,” she said, in tweets that ultimately saw her being suspended from the party.

The BLF laid charges against her following the tweets, saying she had not shown real remorse for the content of her tweets.

“Helen Zille is a proud racist who praises colonialism. All sane people know that colonialism is the process of land dispossession and genocide against black people. BLF understands colonialism to be one of the key corner stones [sic] of racism and white supremacy. We will fight colonialism until the land is returned and our people have received justice,” said the party in a statement.

A few months later, perhaps to prove a point Mngxitama has now done what he reckons Zille did, and has tweeted about the supposed “positive aspects” of the Holocaust.

https://twitter.com/Mngxitama/status/900558350131367937

“For those claiming the legacy of the holocaust is ONLY negative think about the lampshades and Jewish soap,” he said, in what was an obvious attempt at a joke.

The Holocaust saw at least 6 million people Jewish people killed by the plan by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany to implement what it called the “Final Solution” to the “Jewish problem”. It was alleged at the time that, among many other grotesque industrial products of this wholesale slaughter, was soap made from human body fat.

Mngxitama’s tweet has caused an outrage on social media, with Zille telling Mngxitama his tweet was reckless “in a country where cannibalism still occurs”.

While most of the comments about his tweets were from angry people, some of his followers said they got his point.

“You know full well that you shall receive a torrent of abuse for this. But I understand your point.”

“It’s actually quite funny how the majority of people condemning you for this tweet were either mum or in support of Helen Zille (a Jew)…”

“Haha Mngxi is a champion, he brings discomfort to the enemy. I see us getting our land back soon,” said another of his supporters.

The rest have condemned his “hate speech” and “racist” comment, calling for legal action against him.