Expose the exploiters whatever their race

POST COMMENT: Many people, who were hopeful that Julius Malema had matured as a politician and was capable of making a rational and reasoned contribution to the national debate, might have been a little concerned about his address to EFF supporters at the party’s fourth anniversary celebrations in Durban on Saturday.

But good sense prevailed and there were some important lessons to be learnt all around.

Malema used the platform to deliver a tirade against almost everything in sight – including the ruling ANC – and could not resist the opportunity to deliver strong words of caution to the Indian community in KwaZulu-Natal.

It was not the first time the EFF leader has chosen to single out the Indian community.

To his credit, he did make it clear his attack on exploiters was across the board and not directed at just one community.

What is perhaps disturbing is the notion that Indian people monopolise the KZN economy, and that Indians had captured the ANC and other political parties.

In fact, there are many people who believe the reverse to be true – that Indian people are generally apathetic about politics and need to become more involved in party politics.

Malema’s allegations about the exploitation of black workers by some Indian employers deserve to be seriously investigated, but not simply on crude racial lines.

No one can deny that there are individuals who take advantage of their workers and do not pay them fairly for their labour.

But this happens in homes as well as in businesses – irrespective of race.

Bring them all to book, whatever their race.

What has to be recognised is that the Indian community is not a homogeneous group. It is widely diverse, both rich and poor, good mannered and bad mannered, saints and sinners. They also come from a range of political parties.

Even more important is the fact that they have a long and proud history of opposition to racial discrimination and injustice. Leaders like Ahmed Kathrada, Monty Naicker, Billy Nair, Fatima Meer and MD Naidoo played major roles in the Struggle for democracy and an end to apartheid.

If South Africa is to become a truly non-racial democracy as envisaged by the liberation Struggle’s founding fathers, we need to shed this hang-up over race.

It might take a little time but it will eventually dawn on all South Africans that there is only one race – the human race.

INDIAN South Africans will not stand back and allow EFF leader Julius Malema to continue making sweeping statements that will undo efforts to promote social cohesion.

They say the firebrand politician who has accused people of Indian origin of ill treating black employees was irresponsible and unless he could prove they monopolised and exploited the economy, he should retract the statements made at his party’s fourth anniversary celebrations in Durban on Saturday.

Yesterday, members of the South African Minority Rights Equality Movement opened a case of crimen injuria against Malema at the Mountain Rise Police Station in Pietermaritzburg.

The group’s chairperson, Daleep Lutchman, said they are looking at hauling Malema before the Equality Court.

He said Malema’s utterances could undo the years of hard work in the province to build unity among race groups.

“We feel as if we have been discriminated against. We treat our employees like family,” said Lutchman.

“We want him to know his power does not mean he can say anything he feels because he is the leader of the EFF.”

Community activist and great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, Satish Dhupelia, applauded Malema for speaking on the exploitation of people but was quick to add that his comments were misplaced.

“As a parliamentarian, Malema had a role to play and I was disappointed he labelled a group of people for something a smaller group may have done.”

Dhupelia continued: “I’m not saying he’s lying. Maybe he was informed by someone and if he was, I would love to work together with him to take on this exploitation.”

He also urged Malema to take action against those employers he found to be in the wrong.

Minority Front leader Shameen Thakur Rajbansi cautioned Malema against making further baseless statements.

“If this is the new generation of leaders then it is dangerous for our democracy. He is going against good governance and being a misleader instead of a leader.”

Thakur Rajbansi said she wanted Malema to cite examples of ill treatment.

“I am calling him out to come clean and produce concrete evidence about his claims. He cannot make misleading comments, especially if he is a leader. He needs to be responsible.”

Former eThekwini Speaker, Logie Naidoo, added: “His comments do not promote harmony or social cohesion and he cannot make a generalised statement.”

Dangerous

Political analyst Bheki Mngomezulu said Malema did not think before he spoke and this could be dangerous as EFF supporters could act against the Indian community.

He said that with the national elections looming in 2019, South Africans should brace themselves for similar utterances. “We have seen this before. He made utterances like this while with the ANC and they were tolerant. So when he formed his own party, he became even more empowered to say what he felt was appropriate.”

The spokesperson for the South African Human Rights Commission, Gushwell Brooks, said they had not received complaints about Malema’s utterances.

At the EFF’s celebrations at Currie’s Fountain on Saturday, Malema accused ANC leaders of being in the pocket of Indian business people in exchange for government tenders.

Malema said he learnt about the plight of African people when he went door-to-door in the province.

“They don’t pay our people. The Indians who own shops don’t pay our people. They give them food parcels. We want a minimum wage, even in the Indian shops.

“When you are black and you have a domestic worker, pay them the minimum wage and treat them properly. If you are an Indian and you have a shop, treat our people properly,” Malema said.

He added that some Indians had “captured the ANC” and other KZN-based political parties and used this to “mistreat their black workers”.

“They are treating them as subhuman and the ANC has allowed that nonsense because the ANC is captured here in KwaZulu-Natal and all political parties in KZN are captured.

“They may not be captured by an Indian Gupta family, but they are captured by other Indian families,” he said.

Said the ANC’s Mdumiseni Ntuli: “He has a reputation of saying things recklessly so we were not surprised. However, we are very disappointed because this shows he does not know the people. He freely expressed his sentiments but could not provide one example to back it up,” he said.

IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi said Malema was trying to create a new scapegoat for people’s economic hardship by coining an Indian monopoly on business in the province.

“It is nothing short of racism to stereotype all Indian South Africans as ‘exploitative business owners’. I challenge Mr Malema, just once, to attack the issues in our country without resorting to blame and hate-mongering. I also challenge him to explain how ‘all political parties in KZN are captured’ by Indian businessmen,” he said.

“The fact that the IFP respects Indians and their contribution to the economy does not make us ‘captured’.”