Clip was edited – Mngxitama
BLF leader says comments were taken out of context
The call to kill five white people for every black person killed has been taken out of context, according to Black First Land First (BLF). Even though the party is now doubling down on its stance that it will kill five white people for every black person killed by what it terms are “agents of Johann Rupert”, its president Andile Mngxitama said yesterday the comments were a warning to billionaire Rupert.
The DA and Solidarity have threatened to take action against Mngxitama for inciting violence against white people. At a media briefing yesterday, Mngxitama said the party had roped in former members of Zimbabwe’s liberation army to train their party members in combat. Mngxitama told a party rally at the weekend: “They kill one of us, we will kill five white people. We will kill their children, we will kill the women, we will kill anything that we find on our way... We kill their dogs, we kill their cats, we kill anything that comes before us.” Mngxitama said Rupert had confessed to having a private army of assassins in the taxi industry during an interview on Power FM.
“The extreme right-wing and racist organisations from AfriForum to the DA, I see the Freedom Front Plus is also in the mix, have deliberately distorted the context of the comments. They have erased Johann Rupert completely from the context, so when you listen to them you think I just jumped on stage and said let’s kill five white people.
“In fact, the clip that was issued by us as Black First Land First, which gives context, has been edited by these groups.” Mngxitama said his comment was in response to Rupert at the Chairman’s Conversation last week with Power FM chairperson Given Mkhari, when he said he had a friend named Jabu who chaired a taxi association. During the interview Rupert had said those in red, a reference to the EFF, must remember that his friend Jabu chairs a taxi association. Rupert said: “One of the first tenants of business partners was the taxi association, so I also have my own army, so when those red guys come they’ve got to remember the taxi association.” Mngxitama said this was a direct threat to black people.