Bigot Mngxitama is disgraceful, ignorant

MY INITIAL anger at reading the anti-Semitic tweets from one of our intellectual giants, Andile Mngxitama, (“Mngxitama worsens his crude anti-Semitic rhetoric”, Weekend Argus, August 26) quickly morphed into concern at the realisation our future as a nation could well be in the hands of those such as he.

It’s pointless lecturing Mngxitama on the significance of the Holocaust. It, together with other genocides such as in Rwanda, was a pivotal event in modern history, incomparable to anything else, including colonialism.

The Holocaust robbed humanity of an incalculable number of intellectuals, artists, musicians, doctors, scientists and so on whose potential contribution to mankind can never be determined.

The Holocaust was mass murder by every possible means, including beatings, shooting, hanging, starvation and ultimately, gassing. The Rwandan Genocide saw the slaughter of 800 000 men, women and children by machete, knife or club. Both are too enormous for the human brain to even begin to comprehend and can only be the subject of humour or ridicule to someone with a seriously warped sense of reason.

Certainly, someone as limited as Mngxitama could not be expected to come to grips with these concepts.

For that, he should be pitied. Our concern is at him seeming to speak for the organisation he represents and whether he’ll ever earn the condemnation of those in higher authority.

Having read George Bizos’s autobiography, I was conscious of the number of Jews who peppered the pages, fighting the Struggle side by side with those who sought a free and decent society for everyone.

One can only wonder whether Mngxitama has the slightest knowledge of this history, while asking oneself why he has chosen to target one of the smallest ethnic groups in the country – and whether the reason goes no further than their Jewishness?

All thinking members of our nation should condemn Mngxitama for what he is – a disgraceful, ignorant bigot.

Further polarisation is the last thing we need. FOR a fighter, Conor McGregor looked about as threatening as the Dalai Lama. It was like watching a first-year law student going toe to toe with Gerrie Nel. I’m sure even Grace Mugabe would have been able to open up a cut on the elusive Floyd Mayweather Jr and gone the distance with full immunity. Can McGregor’s downfall be attributed to him taking advice from the Bulls defensive coach?