Mngxitama should get educated at Holocaust centre says SAJBD

The SA Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) wants the Equality Court to order Black First Land First leader Andile Mgxitama to apologise for tweets over the holocaust‚ get sensitivity training or pay a R150‚000 fine.

Mngxitama earned the ire of the board last month when he tweeted: “For those claiming the legacy of the holocaust is ONLY negative think about the lampshades and Jewish soap.”

Later in the day he allegedly followed up with another tweet about “the aroma of the burning flesh from the furnace of the holocaust may wet (sic) the appetite of the SA cannibals”.

The SAJBD has filed papers in the Equality Court arguing that Mngxitama was in violation of the Equality Act which prohibits the publication or propagation of hate speech.

“Mr Mngxitama has engaged in conduct that amounts to hate speech against the South African Jewish community‚ and Jewish people in general‚” SAJBF National Director Wendy Kahn said in an affidavit.

“Such comments create an environment within which racist and hateful attitudes are allowed to flourish and a hostile and intimidating environment is created for persons at whom the racist commentary is directed‚” she said.

She added that his comments dehuminise Jewish people and are hurtful because they “depict atrocities visited upon Jewish people as something to be mocked and joked about”.

Khan has asked the court to direct Mngxitama to issue an unconditional apology‚ acknowledging the harmfulness of his tweets. She has also requested that the court order Mngxitama to participate in an education programme at the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre.

Khan argues that if Mngxitama does not complete the course within three months he should be made to pay a R150‚000 fine to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.

She adds that he should undergo this “educational sensitivity training course” in order to “become aware of the horrors of where his racist hate-filled conduct could lead”.

“Mr Mngxitama would learn that the Rwandan genocide did not just happen. It as fermented‚ inter alia‚ by radio reference to the targeted group as ‘cockroaches’….He would learn that his kind of utterances‚ apart from causing a violation of members of the targeted group’s dignity and harm to them psychologically‚ it also has the serious potential to physically cause harm to the target group‚” Khan said.