ANCYL calls for 10-year prison term for racists
The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) on Tuesday, said that the increased number of racist outbursts and racial profiling in public spaces signalled a resurgence of racial arrogance that proclaimed white supremacy.
This comes after a Sandton man, Ben Sasonof, posted on Facebook derogatory remarks about black Durban beach-goers and an upmarket Cape Town restaurant racially profiled two black patrons.
These comments were preceded by viral comments made by Durban realtor Penny Sparrow about beach-goers as well, Capetonian Matthew Theunissen about racial quotas in sports, and Durban estate agent Vicky Momberg’s racist rant against black police officers.
The ANCYL in eThekwini Region on Monday laid a charge of crimen injuria against Sasonof over his comments on social media.
In a statement, ANCYL spokesperson Mlondi Mkhize said these racists incidences can no longer be classified as “pockets of incidents” but they show a deeper underlying racial hatred that continued to exist in South African society.
Mkhize said black people were lacking in material power as a result of centuries long dispossession whilst the majority of white racists believed their economic standing in society continued to make them a superior race.
“The ANC Youth League holds a view that racist arrogance is as a result exercising power that is backed by historically accumulated privilege,” Mkhize said.
“This platform exists only for white people and against black people in the context of the centuries of material and social dispossession.”
Mkhize said the ANC-led government should move faster with land expropriation and economic transformation because they believed that was what sustained white supremacy.
“The ANC Youth League will start a lobby process for the development of a regulatory framework that should make racism a crime that is punishable by imprisonment. We can no longer file for charges that only result in fines,” Mkhize said.
“We should criminalise racism with a minimum jail sentence of 10 years. There must be harsh consequences for racism the time for picketing and marches against racism is over we must jail racists and change the ownership structure of the economy.”