ANC orders Zuma’s son to apologise for ‘racist’ rant

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal is under pressure to take action against President Jacob Zuma’s son Edward to show it is unbiased after he wrote what many consider a racist open letter.

Edward Zuma caused uproar last week when he wrote that Pravin Gordhan and Derek Hanekom were askaris or “sellouts” and accused them of protecting white monopoly capital.

The ANC and the South African Human Rights Commission say Edward Zuma’s letter promotes hatred on the basis of race. Both said they would take action against him.

But on Saturday, Edward Zuma said he viewed the commission as “a vile dog unleashed to maul the black majority‚ to manage them‚ to sanitise their history and to keep them in check when expressing their history and articulating their black pain”. He said he was unfazed by any threats of action by the commission.

The commission warned at the weekend that Edward Zuma could land up in jail if he persisted with his racist vitriol.

Spokeswoman Gail Smith said it would be communicating with him this week.

“We will engage him … and … decide which action to take.”

ANC KwaZulu-Natal spokesman Mdumiseni Ntuli said the party had communicated with Edward Zuma, instructing him to retract his statement and apologise for his racist rant.

“We have given him five days to do this. He has failed to separate and contextualise criticism against the president. He has personalised it and used racial connotations in dealing with comrade Pravin and comrade Hanekom. If he fails … we will bring him before the disciplinary committee to explain himself.”

Political analyst Sifiso Kunene said the ANC was under pressure to show it was tackling Edward Zuma. “The ANC in the province had to be seen to be doing something, especially after taking a tough stance against defiant MP Makhosi Khoza,” he said.