Evangelist’s comments on Jews and Afrikaners cause race row

TALI FEINBERG

In response, Gardee said, “That stadium needs some limpet mines booby-trapped around it prior to that date. Then let’s see what happens to the only people who have a ‘covenant with G-d’. I know this Boer religious fanatic is misrepresenting the Jewish people, but he must be banned from our television screens.”

Following these comments, AfriForum Deputy Chief Executive Ernst Roets called for Gardee to be “prosecuted” for his comments. “This isn’t only hate speech, it’s incitement to violence. Godrich should be prosecuted,” he said in a tweet of his own.

Buchan apologised for his comment about Jews and Afrikaners in a Facebook post.

“Having stated that the Jews and the Afrikaans people were the only two nations that had a covenant with G-d is totally wrong and for that statement, I humbly ask your forgiveness,” he said.

Gardee responded on social media that he didn’t accept the apology. “This is what we are subjected to … stir up racial disharmony and apologise when taken to task … the fact is that the man sees Africans in their own country and continent as subhuman and not worthy of G-d.” But he eventually apologised for his own inflammatory tweet. “Following the apology by evangelist Angus, I withdraw my earlier comments regarding limpet mines. Racist conduct should be ferociously confronted. It took a threat to bring him to his senses. Let’s hope no one follows in his footsteps to wedge religious racial division.”

Buchan’s original comment was as follows, “Everybody is welcome as always to our meetings but this time, the emphasis will be on the Afrikaner nation. We are going to call out to G-d remembering that only two nations in the world have ever been in covenant with the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They are the Jewish people and the Afrikaans people, that is fact.”

Wendy Kahn, the national director of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, said, “In our fraught South African environment where race and religion can be potentially divisive and sensitive issues, it’s imperative that our words are chosen carefully.

“These types of provocative comments from all parties in this conversation serve only to polarise South Africans further. We urge all political, religious, and communal leaders to utilise speech that isn’t inflammatory. We again endorse the campaign #NoPlaceforHate.”