He stopped the music, angered Hofmeyr fans
Call to halt singer Steve’s concert makes caller a call target
● Optometrist Des Bailes led a relatively quiet life in Cape Town — until he called for the cancellation of a concert by a fellow Grey College old boy Steve Hofmeyr.
Bailes said he believed the Afrikaans singer is using farm murders to “promote himself and his racist agenda”.
Hofmeyr hit back by posting Bailes’s phone number on Facebook, encouraging his fans to ask Bailes “how many dead farmers will be enough for him”.
This left Bailes knee-deep in insults, and on Friday — after Hofmeyr tweeted “It is time to let Bailes feel what it is like to be punished for your opinion” — he laid a complaint of intimidation with the police.
“I have had to screen my calls and turn my phone off at night,” he said.
It all started earlier this month when Bailes wrote to Western Cape education MEC Debbie Schafer, calling on her to cancel a Hofmeyr concert organised by the Dutch Reformed Church in a school hall in Caledon as a fundraising event.
Schafer refused to get involved but the ANC mobilised its members to march to the hall where Hofmeyr was supposed to perform on Friday.
The ANC chief whip in the Theewaterskloof council, Derick Appel, who has a child at the school, said Hofmeyr had no place there.
“Steve is always against government but he wants to use a government venue to promote his racist tendencies,” he said.
The Rev Marius Greeff, of the Dutch Reformed Church in Greyton, said: “It’s been cancelled due to threats by the ANC Youth League. [It is not] worth taking any chances with people’s safety.”
In his letter to Schafer, Bailes said Hofmeyr was notorious for his overt racism and statements such as “Certain aspects of apartheid were brilliant”.
This week Bailes explained that he took action after seeing reports that Hofmeyr had praised Clive Derby-Lewis, who assassinated struggle activist Chris Hani.
“I am deeply disturbed by the farm murders, but I feel using racist rhetoric to fight this scourge is counterproductive.”
As Bailes stepped up his campaign to keep Hofmeyr from performing in government-owned venues — by calling on authorities in Kraaifontein to cancel another Hofmeyr concert, this time in the town hall — the performer hit back on social media.
Contacted for comment this week, Hofmeyr said there was “dismay” in Caledon and Greyton over the cancellation of the concert.
“The Bailes crowd, who hate the cultural expression of other minorities, have been gagging me for years. At best they have succeeded in venue cancellations. This is the first concert that was cancelled.
“He punished a small school and church again, as they had major expenses that cannot be recovered . . . The families in Caledon will, at cost, distance and peril, drive to the other shows on tour,” said Hofmeyr.
Hofmeyr’s fans have lashed out at Bailes on social media and many have threatened him telephonically. The men have not spoken to each other.
While they completed their schooling at the same institution, Hofmeyr said they spoke different languages.
“I accept his opinion and grant him his income, as I do any South African. This is not accorded me. He calls my cultural expression a ‘political agenda’ and uses this as a scare tactic. He treats no other person in South Africa, not even those who call for the blood of other citizens, this way. It’s telling.”