De Klerk says Sparrow must make an ‘unqualified apology’

05 January 2016 - 11:42 By TMG Digital

The FW de Klerk Foundation called on Penny Sparrow “to make an unqualified apology for her remarks and to acquaint herself with the values on which our new society has been established”. The statement comes in the wake of the outrage caused when a post on Facebook by Sparrow‚ apparently angered by the presence of black people on beaches‚ went viral on Monday.“From now I. Shall address the blacks of South Africa as monkeys as I see the cute little wild monkeys do the same pick drop and litter‚” Sparrow had said.“The trouble with Ms Sparrow's remarks is that they reinforce black stereotypes of whites as insensitive and supercilious racists. These stereotypes are also unfair and further erode relationships between our communities‚” the foundation said.It said the damage caused by Sparrow “has been compounded by her subsequent attempts to explain herself”.“Our Constitution calls on us to heal the divisions of the past and to establish a society based on democratic values‚ social justice and fundamental rights. Non-racialism is one of the foundational values on which our new society has been created. Human dignity is another. “In multicultural societies such as ours it is of paramount importance that we should treat all fellow South Africans from other communities with respect and consideration. We should above all honour and acknowledge their right to human dignity and should avoid hurtful negative stereotypes.”Former apartheid-era president De Klerk made headlines in December over his call for a statue of Cecil John Rhodes not to be removed from Oxford University.The Economic Freedom Fighters’ Mbuyiseni Quintin Ndlozi said this plea “demonstrated that he does not deserve the Nobel Peace Prize he received alongside Nelson Mandela” and his views on the statue at Oriel College “must be considered as a withdrawal of his apology for apartheid since‚ for him‚ it was politically correct”.“By extension‚” Ndlozi argued‚ “it means De Klerk thinks there was a time when apartheid or colonisation was politically correct‚ which renders his apologies for it futile.”..

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