Shivambu’s attitude reflects no remorse

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ON MARCH 21, now designated Human Rights Day, we South Africans commemorate the death of the 69 people and about 200 injured by the South African Police at Sharpeville in 1960. This killing epitomised the nature of the apartheid racial state as one in which there was institutionalised violence.

Although our new constitutional dispensation premised on human dignity, equality and freedom, is the antithesis of the apartheid one, violence still occurs. Unfortunately, the horrific events at Marikana where 34 miners were killed four years ago is an inordinately painful example of violence perpetrated by the state during our democratic era.

Violent conduct perpetrated by anyone in our democratic body politic is unacceptable,. It is therefore of profound concern that the EFF deputy president assaulted a journalist on Saturday, March 17.

This despicable incident took place outside Parliament as Adrian de Kock from Media 24 was waiting with other journalists outside the building where Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille’s disciplinary hearing was taking place.

De Kock saw Floyd Shivambu, asked him if he wished to comment on the hearing and took pictures of him. Shivambu demanded De Kock delete the images because he had not given consent to be photographed.

He subsequently held De Kock by the neck and grabbed his camera. Shivambu then walked away while another man continued to attack De Kock. During the manhandling, De Kock was heard shouting “leave my stuff alone”. Later he told Timeslive he would lay assault charges. It is to be hoped this does occur and that the matter is referred to Parliament’s ethics committee.

Subsequently, Shivambu belatedly issued an apology of sorts, referred to the assault as a “scuffle” and refused to be interviewed by the press on the issue, declaring that the media should use “his statement as an official response and nothing else”.

His arrogant attitude reflected no remorse; he merely declared he should have handled the situation differently.

As a parliamentarian and deputy leader of the EFF, he should be a role model and not seen to be using violence to pursue any political objective or in his ordinary behaviour.

Regrettably, the EFF and even elements within the ANC set a prejudicial example. Julius Malema is on record as saying “we are not going to kill the whites – not just yet”.

This is clearly hate speech and could lead to violent action. The

EFF’S threat of land grabs, with its prospect of causing violence, have been condemned unequivocally by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The killings of ANC politicians, in Kwazulu-natal, being investigated by the Moerane Commission, are an indication of political violence, which is unacceptable and unfortunately emanates from bitter discord within factions of the ANC in this province.

Often women and children are the hapless victims of violence. In this regard, as far as the ANC and women are concerned, the erstwhile Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Mdudusi Manana, resigned after admitting to an assault of two women at the Cubana nightclub in Fourways, Johannesburg, claiming extreme provocation.

He was charged with assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and released on R5 000 bail.

The use of violence in protest by students and at local government level in relation to service delivery is also distressing.

It has become one of the morally challenging issues in contemporary South Africa.

Violence is morally justifiable only in self-defence and in opposing a diabolical political system such as apartheid or Nazism, but certainly not in a democratic body politic.

We need a penetrating discourse and informed discussion of this issue and related ones such as civil disobedience, which does not involve violence, as pioneered and applied initially by Mahatma Gandhi and subsequently Martin Luther King, with their respective philosophies of Satyagraha and civil disobedience.

It was also used by Nelson Mandela and others in the defiance campaign in South Africa in the early 1950s. In today’s democracy violence should be eschewed as a political weapon or strategy. Civil society and faith-based organisations as well as political parties need to take a stand against any manifestation of it in our society.

Devenish is an emeritus professor at UKZN and helped draft the interim constitution in 1993.