Online ranter sought for racist killer post
FAKE posters and posts on social media are deliberately sowing racial division and inciting violence. That’s the fear in some quarters after yet another online rant from a person who is yet to be traced.
The Facebook post, on the eve of Anti-Racism Week which started yesterday, was made by someone named Obatala Mcambi.
The person claimed to have used his guns to rob and kill Indians and whites, and encouraged others to rape the offspring of those race groups.
But is Mcambi a real person or a fake?
Either way, social activist Yusuf Abramjee said he could not allow the posting to go unattended and on Sunday opened criminal charges of inciting violence and hatred on social media against Mcambi at Brooklyn police station in Johannesburg.
Abramjee was accompanied by Andy Mashaile, the Interpol ambassador for the Turn Back Crime campaign, who has lambasted the posting.
In Pietermaritzburg, Sher Singh had also opened criminal charges against Mcambi on behalf of the South African Minority Rights Equality Movement (Samrem).
Mcambi, who claimed to be from Durban on his Facebook profile, wrote: “I use my guns to rob and kill Indians & Whites. Please fellas, join me, we have to rape their kids with Aids virus too!”
“Whether he exists or doesn’t, the police need to investigate. The motive behind this is to cause tension and we need to do something about it,” said Abramjee, who added that black social media users were equally angered by Mcambi’s recent posting.
Mashaile said the person responsible for the message, even if it was meant to intentionally rile South Africans, needed to be tracked down, arrested, prosecuted, convicted and sent to jail.
“If someone did create a fake profile, he is inciting people to engage in unlawful activities.”
He added that it was therefore important for social media platforms to be regulated.
“If anything of this nature pops up, there should be technology that brings this to the attention of social media administrators before it is made public.”
Mashaile said members of the public should not approach or try to apprehend Mcambi, who is seen holding a gun in his profile photograph, as he “may not hesitate to shoot”.
He referred to Indians and whites as being “Mandela’s people” and being “part and parcel of the rainbow nation”.
Said Mashaile: “No one has the right to say Indians and whites must be killed and we cannot have a lunatic threaten to shoot people.”
“When he said ‘fellas join me’, people will see this as an opportunity to be coaxed or coached into taking action.”
Mashaile said the person behind it could also be someone whose sole purpose was to create chaos.
Peace activist Ela Gandhi thought similarly.
“There are people who want to cause racial tension. They are deliberately doing it to topple the present government. Some people want to go back to the apartheid times.
“If it is a fake account, the post could have been made by someone from another race group. People are dissatisfied with what is going on (in the country) and want change.”
She said despite democracy, racism was alive and it would take a long time to eradicate it, if at all.
“In South Africa, we see there is a lot of goodwill where people want to change and for the country to prosper but there is a handful who would like to take us back.”
Gandhi said it was vital for communities to continue to build solidarity.
The spokesperson for the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, Neeshan Balton, said that it appeared as if a fictitious profile was used to create the post.
“The intention was to sow racial division and incite violence.”
Balton added that he did not believe peoples would take Mcambi’s message seriously.
“Evidence has previously shown that there is no support where people just blindly follow these messages.”
He said the Anti-Racism message was #TakeOnRacism and that was exactly what Abramjee had done.
“He challenged it and reported it.”
However, Ashen Singh, of Samrem, said Mcambi’s account was not fake and that they had put up a R10 000 reward for information that would lead to him being found.
Once found, Singh said he would be criminally prosecuted and taken to the Equality Court.
For further information, Samrem can be contacted at 071 419 1517.
Gail Smith, the spokesperson for the South African Human Rights Commission, said they had not received a complaint about the matter.
She told POST that the commission has seen an increase in the reporting of cases that arose from social media.
“However, we categorise complaints according to the human rights that have been violated and not according to the site or platform on or from which it arises.”
She added that the commission dealt with all complaints in line with its procedures and they did not make exceptions for specific platforms.
“However, in the instance of social media, the first port of call should always be to report the post to the owners of the platform, who have their own rules governing the use of their platforms.”