National Secretary General of Bolsheviks Party Fanie Mogotji has condemned the escalating racial tension tendencies in the Groblersdal community surrounding the court case of two farmers accused of assaulting their security guard.
He also expressed his disgust about the use of the old apartheid flag known as Vierkleur by white community members who matched to the Groblersdal Magistrate’s Court to support Piet Groenewald, 63, owner of Wildlife Investigation & Protection Services (WIPS), and his son Stefan Greeff, 27, who were applying for their bail application on Wednesday. Mogotji was also unhappy when Vierkleur flag holders clashed with the police who were calling them to order following their racial conduct.
The two men were arrested earlier this month after they allegedly beat up their 30-year-old security guard and unleashed a dog to attack him however their case was postponed to February 7, 2024 and were remanded in custody.
Mogotji said: “Apartheid is being brought back to life in Groblersdal where a large group of Afrikaner boere glad in khaki shorts and waving the old union jack flag were chanting through the streets of Groblersdal on their way to court to support their fellow boere who are appearing in court for repeatedly setting their dogs on a black farm labourer. It's their right to march and show solidarity to one of their own but waving the old apartheid flag just shows total disrespect to the gains of freedom and they are fuelling racial discrimination among blacks and whites.”
“To top it all these boers went on to physically fight the SAPS members as they wanted to force their way into court, another transgression right there, they don't even respect the police and their uniform they should be arrested. This thing has gone on for far too long, the Afrikaner community in Groblersdal think they own that small town and can do whatever they like without consequences. Not long ago a white Afrikaner male was captured on video assaulting a young teenage black boy. Their schools are making admission very difficult for black learners. Now these ones set dogs on a black farm labourer and they bring their apartheid style chants to court to intimidate the magistrate and we must be quiet? We are being disrespected and it's time to say enough is enough.”
The National Secretary General of Bolsheviks Party urged the government to rename Groblersdal and all the Afrikaner street names. Mogotji said all apartheid symbols must also be removed in that small town.
Justice Minister Ronald Lamola said the Vierkleur Flag represents a bygone era of colonisation and apartheid highlighting that he is concerned about the racial tensions in the area.
Lamola said when addressing the media:"This flag holds historical significance, but it also carries connotations of a time when black people were denied their basic rights. In August 2019 the Equality Court, sitting also as the High Court of South Africa (South Gauteng), ruled that the display of the old apartheid flag constitutes hate speech in South Africa.”
“This act is reminiscent of the old apartheid V4 flag and cannot be tolerated. The Ministry firmly denounces the waving of this flag and will take decisive measures to ensure that the South African Human Rights Commission thoroughly examines this matter.”
The Justice Minister was also discontent about the events that unfolded outside the Groblersdal Magistrate’s Court.
“Access to Court and peaceful protest is permitted in our country but it must be in line with the directives of the Court. We applaud the Saps for swiftly arresting all the protesters that attempted to block or enter the Court forcefully,” said Lamola.
Meanwhile, Mogotji has lambasted the South African Human Rights Commission for saying that the current Groblersdal case is not racial. “The response of the commission is not only disappointing but asks questions about the mission and objectives of the commission. A representative from the commission announced that preliminary reports had found nothing racially discriminatory about the case. Maybe the commission should delve deeper into the case and learn its merits, then familiarise themselves with the history of Groblersdal and its Afrikaner farming community,” said Mogotji.
“First of all, the victim in this case was accused of coming to work drunk,that's unacceptable behaviour but it does not warrant beating him up and setting dogs on him, I bet my last penny if he was white the reaction from the two white men would've been different. To add the cherry on top fellow Afrikaner farmers glad in their traditional boere attire with guns hanging from their waists marched through the small town singing "dela rey,dela rey,laat jy die boere kom lei" and other boere songs on the day that the two accused were set to appear in court.”
“Maybe we should remind the commission of other unrelated incidents of racial division and attacks in this small town. Not long ago a young teenage boy with asthma was badly beaten and kicked by a grown-up Afrikaner white male with a gun in his hand, apparently it all started after an argument over salt at a fast food outlet. If the black victim was white, he was never going to be beaten like that.”
Mogotji who didn’t mince his words further said: “They showed utmost disrespect to our constitution and progress made in uniting blacks and whites by showing up with the old apartheid flags and even physically fought SAPS members in their attempts to force entry into the court, one of the farmers allegedly shot his rifle in the air. This is a deliberate attempt to reverse and undermine the gains of democracy and the progress we have made as a country. And in all of this the commission does not see anything racist.”
“Schools in Groblersdal continue to make admission a nightmare to black learners who stay a few meters from schools yet admit without fail white Afrikaner learners from as far as Loskop,we fight them every year and have reported this practice to authorities but nothing is ever done to remedy this.”
In conclusion, Mogotji told The Azanian that the less said about workers exploitation and the hiring of undocumented foreign nationals who are seen as cheap labour and the general abuse of workers, the better.
The unruly holding the apartheid Vierkleur Flag.
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