Swastika-clad ‘soldier’ knew what he was doing

Brian Josselowitz, Cape Town

Though the Bloemfontein resident in his late 70s has apologised for his actions, nobody said anything to him, apart from the horrified Kanya Mofokeng whose video went viral. The man knew exactly what he was doing, in fact he may even be old enough to have been a member of the Ossewa Brandwag. He’s also old enough to know what the Swastika means to the “other”, and by Hitler’s reckoning, Mofokeng along with Jews would have been classified as untermenschen (inferior people).

Famous Brands, the owner of the Wimpy brand, brushed it off as an “incident” that it would investigate. He was dressed for a pageant, or he was identifying with Nazi ideology, otherwise why would he have walked around in public, wearing those hated symbols.

If we let one person get away with it, we might as well become ostriches. At the very least, Wimpy should reprimand its manager or franchisee, and make a suitable donation to a Jewish charity. The man should also be forced to do community work with a Jewish organisation in Bloemfontein. And, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies should take him to the Equality Court, and lay a charge of racism and anti-Semitism at the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC).

Although I suspect, the court being as biased as it is, it would take months to resolve. Witness Marius Fransman, the former provincial secretary of the African National Congress in the Western Cape, and trade unionist and anti-Semite, Tony Ehrenreich, who still haven’t apologised for their hateful remarks, even though ordered to do so by the SAHRC.