Sing-song battle over Afrikaans vocalist’s tweets
THE ANC wants Afrikaans singer Steve Hofmeyr to be held accountable for inciting racial violence and for allegedly making death threats against Zindzi Mandela and DA MP Phumzile van Damme.
The latest action was sparked by a series of tweets which caused a storm in the country, including calls by various pro-Afrikaner groupings, which included AfriForum, for on Mandela to be axed as ambassador to Denmark for calling white people land thieves.
Mandela is the daughter of Nelson and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.
Hofmeyr made the alleged threats a few days after Zindzi Mandela posted a series of tweets on June 14 in which she called white people “apartheid apologists and land thieves”.
She then came under attack from various quarters including AfriForum, which called on International Relations and Co-operation Minister Naledi Pandor to fire her.
In supporting AfriForum’s call and reacting to Mandela’s tweets, Hofmeyr wrote: “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.”
Yesterday, ANC national spokesperson Pule Mabe, accompanied by party lawyer Krish Naidoo and national communications manager Cornelius Monama, opened a criminal case against Hofmeyr at the Johannesburg central police station.
The ANC had initially planned to lodge the criminal case in Cape Town after Hofmeyr’s tweets went viral on Wednesday.
“We decided to open the case here at the Johannesburg central police station because this police station is closer to Luthuli House (ANC headquarters). It will enable us to monitor the police investigation in our case,” Mabe said.
He was grateful the police were quick to open the case, saying their decision to lay criminal charges against Hofmeyr was to ensure “that every citizen of the country upholds the law and the Constitution, including Steve Hofmeyr”.
“We’re going to act against those who threaten the lives of others. We have also opened a case on behalf of Phumzile van Damme, who is a DA Member of Parliament,” Mabe said.
Hofmeyr came under attack for his tweet, with one Twitter user saying: “Wow Steve, this is really a bold statement, which is unpleasant. I love your music, but this political anger and hate is not for me.
I am also a taxpayer, but I’m not the Boss. I am rather working together to find solutions. War is destructive Steve, it breaks all people.”
While Mabe has insisted on action being taken against the singer, Hofmeyr avoided commenting on the latest remarks made by former president Thabo Mbeki, in which he described Mandela’s tweets as undiplomatic. Mbeki urged Pandor to act against her. Mbeki’s comments irked the EFF. “Thabo Mbeki confesses not to know what the actual Twitter comments of Zindzi Mandela were. However, because of an uncontrollable appetite to appear as a paragon of correctness, he still provides comments.
“Essentially, the former president comments on things happening on the ground which he has no knowledge of, true to his aloof self,” EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said.
AfriForum was sceptical about a positive outcome for the ANC in the criminal case, deputy chief executive Ernst Roets said.