Petition launched to defend MK Party MP Andile Mngxitama after 'hate speech' video resurfaces

A petition has been launched to defend Black First Land First (BLF) leader Andile Mngxitama amid calls for him to be ousted from parliament after an old “hate speech” video of him resurfaced online. 

Mngxitama has been in the spotlight this week after he was sworn in as an MP for the MK Party on Tuesday. A video taken five years ago at a BLF event in Potchefstroom has resurfaced, showing him chanting: “For every one life taken, five white lives will be taken.”

Shortly after he was sworn in as MP, a petition started by “concerned citizens” called for his removal from parliament and gained more than 12,000 signatures.

On Wednesday, Umhlaba Wethu created a counterpetition which had about 7,125 signatures by Thursday afternoon.

“Mngxitama is facing widespread persecution from racists for declaring that black people will no longer sit and watch while their populations get decimated through white racist brutality as was the case during apartheid,” the Umhlaba Wethu petition read.

“Racists including Elon Musk have joined the bandwagon of covertly encouraging attacks on the character of Mngxitama, which has put his life in danger. This attack on Mngxitama is an example of how racists worldwide disregard black lives and undermine efforts of any people who pursue redress.”

Supporters of the petition have expressed their reasons for signing.

“White supremacists want to destroy all our intelligent black people,” Collen Mkansi said.

“Andile said, ‘If they kill one of us, we kill 10 of them.’ That is not racist, but it's a defensive statement,” another supporter, Musa Khumalo, added.

Mngxitama claimed his remarks in the old video were a reaction to businessman Johann Rupert's statement that he had an army in the taxi industry ready to act should “those red guys come”, an apparent reference to the EFF.

Despite him asserting that the video clips were taken out of context, this has not quelled the backlash.

Grant James, a signatory of the removal petition, commented: “No members of parliament should be racist and calling for the killing of anyone.”

Mark Crozier said: “We don't need spreaders of race hate in parliament.”

Ron Maclean echoed these sentiments, saying: “The laws must apply to everyone equally. We cannot have people in parliament who are calling for the murder of other ethnic groups.”

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