Visvin Reddy clarifies Facebook remarks
Visvin Reddy, the chairman of the ANC's Chatsworth branch, has clarified controversial remarks he reportedly made on Facebook about Indians who complain about the ANC government.
"I said: 'to the anti-ANC commentators wait until May 8. I then stated that whiners, those who are complaining about the country, should leave'.
"That could apply to anybody. If a person is coming from Zimbabwe that's staying here, they're not happy. I'm saying if you not happy with this country, you complaining you unhappy here, you should leave," he said.
Reddy was speaking on East Coast Radio's Trending Tonight with Sirshin Moodliar last night, when he tried to explain why he made the comment on social media.
"Then I made a comparison, I said if you look at India, if you look at South Africa, comparatively speaking, Indians living in South Africa have lived a fairly good life. We do have our challenges," he said.
Reddy feels the statement was taken completely out of context.
"I have over 2000 friends on Facebook, I don't know all of them. There's one person in particular, who was extremely vicious and malicious in his attack on the ANC, on the government and on [black people] in general, to the point where, I believed that his statements were bordering on racism.
"I subsequently deleted his comments as well as my comment but somebody had done a screen grab of it and submitted it to the media," he said.
The ANC released a statement yesterday distancing itself from Reddy's Facebook comments saying the remarks are uncalled for and don't reflect the principles of democracy.
(Gallo file photo)
Story: East Coast Radio