ANC Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa. Photo: Timeslive
In a statement made in response to the ANC Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa’s alleged racist remarks, the Freedom Front Plus leader and President Pieter Mulder said that these statements should not be dismissed lightly.
He was reacting to the statements to the effect that if all the ANC supporters do not vote, the ‘boers’ would come to control the country once more.
Mr. Ramaphosa was speaking to an unemployed mother of three, Johanna Phala, 49 in Seshego who had indicated that she would not vote again as the ANC had caused the unemployment in the country.
Many other political leaders have slammed the Vice President of the ruling party for the use of this term.
Mosiuoa Lekota, president of the Congress of the People, criticized the use of this statement, saying that it was not in line with the South African constitution. On the other hand, the Democratic Alliance said that the comment from Ramaphosa showed how much he was still stuck in the past or the dark ages as they called it.
Perhaps the most relevant comment came from Johannes Moller, the president of the farmers organisation, Agri SA who said that “to equate ‘boer’ to Afrikaner people or a minority group or government, creates a generalised view that actual farmers [boere] represent a particular political profile.” He added that the term has diverse political connotations attached to it and this was harmful to the agricultural sector in the country.
In response to these criticisms, Cyril Ramaphosa argued that it was unfortunate that his statement had been interpreted to mean that he was referring to a particular population group.
