Racist remark ‘unwarranted’

INCONSISTENT: STATEMENT GOES AGAINST SA AGENDA

EFF deputy president calls Treasury member ‘non-African’.

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) deputy president Floyd Shivambu’s treatment of Treasury’s deputy director-general, Ismail Momoniat, was “unwarranted” and “inconsistent” with the non-racial principles of South Africa’s transformative agenda when Shivambu objected to Momoniat’s “repeated presence” in meetings held in parliament on Tuesday.

Shivambu also referred to Momoniat as “non-African” and questioned Momoniat’s attendance to all finance committee meetings instead of his African counterpart Dondo Mogajane.

Shivambu reportedly said: “I think he undermines Africans. He does not take the director-general, the finance minister or the deputy finance minister seriously. He thinks he is superior to them. He takes all the decisions and he is always here in parliament as if he is National Treasury alone. He is supposed to focus on what he is assigned to.”

Enraged by this, Public Sector Networks said it was unacceptable for anyone to use their parliamentary power to insult anyone else, especially a public servant, on racial grounds and it would be writing a letter of complaint to the ethics office of parliament to investigate the matter further.

Public Sector spokesperson, Yolisa Pikie said: “We are appalled by the racist treatment of Ismail Momoniat in parliament. The EFF took a stand against Momoniat on the basis that he is not African. Since when do we judge the quality of a public servant by their race?

“The value of a public servant should be judged by their work and not by their skin colour. On this basis, Momoniat is a highly valuable public servant and should be protected from such racist, short-sighted and childish attacks.”

The finance committee chairperson Yunis Carrim also condemned Shivambu’s behaviour.

He said: “Of course, you can’t have non-racialism without African leadership, but you also cannot exclude non-Africans simply on the basis of their race. What next? We don’t have to compromise one iota on the need for African leadership, while accepting the role of outstanding public servants like Mr Momoniat.”

Carrim also added that: “All MPs, not just Mr Shivambu, should not abuse our right to speak freely in terms of the Powers, Privileges and Immunities Act.”