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Pallo Jordan defends De la Rey
15/02/2007 14:48 - (SA)
Donwald Pressly
Cape Town - The creator of the Afrikaans song De la Rey had every right to perform his song, Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan said on Thursday.
He said that if the song - seen as a struggle song - led followers to take up arms, then it became a matter for the security forces including the police.
But Jordan said that he had fought his whole life for freedom of expression and composer Bok van Blerk had "the perfect right to perform".
There was no need for Afrikaners to take up arms and as long as the song was in line with the country's constitution, it was fine, argued Jordan.
Earlier his department said that the song - which refers to Afrikaans-speakers from the Oranje Free State, then a republic, fighting against the British Empire - was in danger of being "hijacked" by right wingers who wanted to mislead Afrikaans speakers into believing the song was a struggle song that sends out a "call to arms".
But Sapa reported that the department said that unless the composer, performer and his audiences regarded themselves as in a state of war with the rest of South Africa's population "the song is merely an historical curiosity".
The minister, at a briefing at Parliament, said that Van Blerk had indicated that his song had "no such message".
- I-Net Bridge (News24)
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South Africa
