AfriForum demands that Mbalula dismisses racist spokesperson

The civil rights organisation AfriForum has sent a letter to Fikile Mbalula, Minister of Sport and Recreation, demanding the immediate dismissal of Esethu Hasane, Media and Communication Manager at the Department of Sport and Recreation. This follows a racist statement made by Hasane on both his Facebook and Twitter accounts, which reads:

Only Western Cape still has dry dams. Please God, we have black people there, choose another way of punishing white people.

Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, says that Hasane’s statement confirms that anti-white racism is rife in the Department of Sport and Recreation. “Hasane’s statement does not come as a surprise, as it has already become evident that Mbalula’s pressure on sport federations to implement rigid racial quotas is not a sincere effort to develop athletes from all communities, but rather a racist campaign to reduce the number of white sportsmen and women in teams. By targeting white people, Mbalula is trying to hide his Department and Government’s failure to establish sport in townships and rural schools,” Kriel adds.

According to Kriel, AfriForum further demands that Mbalula and his department publicly denounce Hasane’s racist statement and that they distance themselves from him without delay.

“Only yesterday, Mbalula (rightfully) shared his disgust on his Twitter account – with screenshots – of an estate agent advertising a townhouse for ‘ONLY whites please’. We cannot wait to see whether Hasane’s comment will receive his immediate attention as well,” Kriel says.