The provincial head of the Human Rights Commission (HRC), Advocate Solomon Moreroa, met with members
of the Salem farming community and Democratic Alliance (DA) councillors on Tuesday to address a supposed incident of hate-speech which occurred in the village last year.
The provincial head of the Human Rights Commission (HRC), Advocate Solomon Moreroa, met with members
of the Salem farming community and Democratic Alliance (DA) councillors on Tuesday to address a supposed incident of hate-speech which occurred in the village last year.
The sit-down took place at Equity House Chambers in High Street and was organised by local advocate and former DA chairperson Jock McConnachie at the request of Moreroa in the hope of starting what McConnachie felt could be a lengthy, ongoing dialogue about concerns over the question of racism within the Salem community.
These concerns arose after an incident at a meeting where Misile Nondzube, a member of the Salem Land Claimant’s Committee (SLCC) allegedly called former Agribusiness farm resident Martin Fick a “white shit”, in addition to saying that he wanted all white farmers to be removed from the Salem area.
The meeting, which took place in October last year, was held to discuss complications which had arisen during the handover of Agribusiness farm in Salem.
The attendees included members of the SLCC, Makana Mayor Vumile Lwana and Municipal Manager Ntombi Baart.
Moreroa was investigating whether the allegations against Nondzube had any weight, and Tuesday’s meeting was the first attempt “of many” to ascertain whether or not a human rights violation occurred during last year’s meeting in Salem.
Moreroa said he would be speaking to Nondzube as well as attendees of the October meeting, including Lwana and Baart, in order to find out exactly what words were uttered by Nondzube with specific reference to Fick.
Should Nondzube be found guilty of hate-speech, he would have to issue a written unconditional apology to Fick. Alternatively, Fick could also take the incident to the Equality Court if he was unhappy with the outcome of Moreroa’s investigation.
Moreroa said although he was investigating one specific case of hate speech, he was aware that racism is a
problem within the Salem farming community, made even more prominent by the recent land claims.
The HRC was therefore looking to implement educational programmes on human rights in the hopes of putting an end to hostilities between white and black farmers in the area.
