Expats vent racist outrage over Mandela

2012-06-27 09:05

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Cape Town - South Africans living in New Zealand have reacted with an outpouring of racist outrage to a Facebook post regarding a book about former president Nelson Mandela.

Well-known South African author Charlene Smith was shocked to see how expats responded to her post on the Safri-Kiwi page last week about the success of her book, Mandela: In Celebration of a Great Life, the Cape Times reported.

The Facebook page bills itself as a place for expats to chat, share experiences and support each other in the "difficult transition".

Her post read: "Going into 2nd printing within 18 days of launch. It shows how much the world values our Madiba."

It was flooded with comments, such as "Clearly your eyes were closed when you spewed your accolades to St Mandela. It’s the only possible way you could have overcome your nausea" and "This site consist (sic) of people that left their country because they couldn’t live in a place where their families got murdered and raped and now you want to come and advertise a book about the father of terror in SA."

The administrator of the page then contacted Smith, telling her that her post would be removed as it incited racist remarks.

Smith, who had been living in the US, was asked not to post any related remarks in future.

“As a South African living abroad one is always thrilled to hear a South African accent... But when we encounter people like this it is really dispiriting, it makes you feel as though you want to disengage completely from South Africans. I’m not interested in those who discriminate regardless of their race group. They shame the nation and themselves,” said Smith.