Mayor suspended
Racial slur has mayor in trouble
Marti Will
mwill@volksblad.com
The executive mayor of Matjhabeng, Nkosinjani Speelman, has been temporarily suspended from the ANC and public office.
This decision was taken by the provincial office of the ANC following the racist slurs he made in his welcoming address to members of the South African National Defence Force in Welkom.
He has violated the provision of the ANC Constitution, which prohibits and classifies as misconduct all forms of racist utterances.
Speelman publicly called the residents of Bronville “Boesmans and drunkards.”
He said the army must not tolerate them (the Bronvillers) disobeying the rules during lockdown. He, Speelman, will back the army in its response to the residents of Bronville.
Matjhabeng’s speaker, Bheke Stofile, says they take the matter seriously.
Stofile has studied and listened to the video clip which Vista brought to his attention. He has applied the council’s standard rules and orders and asked the executive mayor to respond to the complaint.
“We have asked him to treat the matter and his response seriously,” says Stofile.
Vista is in possession of this video, and a later video the mayor made to apologise for his political gaff.
The ward councillor of Bronville, Vicky Morris, told Vista the residents are very unhappy and are demanding the mayor’s resignation. Morris has demanded a public apology from Speelman.
On Facebook, Heinrich April posted his own video recording in which he said the mayor meant what he said when he called them “Boesmans”.
“I hope the ANC disciplines you, the people of Matjhabeng deserve better. In a democracy, we cannot have racists. You will have to deal with us,” said April. “If you respect your job, and the ANC, you will resign.
Piet Botha of the DA has reported Speelman to the Human Rights Commission and the police.
“Even though he has apologised, his actions and words are unacceptable. He must be held accountable. It just does not belong in our times. We will definitely take this further,” says Botha.
Even Jesse Duarte in her private capacity, as well as Dennis Bloem, have condemned Speelman’s comments.
