ANCYL slams 'illegal' FB page

2010-03-24 12:16

Johannesburg - The ANC Youth League is "against all forms of hate speech", it said on Wednesday, distancing itself from racist comments on social networking site Facebook.

"The ANC Youth League president [Julius Malema] does not have an official Facebook fans page, and does not use Facebook," spokesperson Floyd Shivambu said.

A Malema supporter, named Thato Mbateti Mbateti, angered Facebook users when he penned a post on a fan page for the ANCYL president referring to whites as "fucking white pigs" and in which he threatens to rape "white whores".

"We will rape them and rape them until their last breath is out. White kids will be burned... men will be burned," states the online post.

It continues: "Its true what Malema said, silently we shall kill them... Police will stand together... our leader will lead us to take our land over... Mandela [former president Nelson Mandela] will smile again."

Pages illegally created

Shivambu said the ANCYL had on "more than one occasion" reported Facebook pages which "spread hate speech" and were "illegally created and linked" to it and its leadership.

"The ANC Youth League has recurrently said and emphasised that we are against all forms of hate speech and will forever oppose attempts to threaten people based on race.

"Facebook is a social networking site and extremely vulnerable to fake impersonations and postings of hate speech and it's very sad that some news agencies treat Facebook as a source of news and information."

The league "ascribed to a non-racial South Africa, where black and white people live side by side in harmony", Shivambu said.

"There are no intentions in the ANCYL to drive white people to the sea and anyone who believes that such is the case is disingenuous and most possibly disturbed," he said.

Mounting criticism

The Facebook post prompted Afrikaner interest group AfriForum Youth to launch a "ten-point plan against Malema" following wide-spread media coverage of the fan page.

The Democratic Alliance wants the SA Police Service to probe the origins of the post.

Shivambu's comments emerged as Malema faced mounting criticism over singing a struggle song with the lyrics "shoot the boer".

Complaints were submitted to the Equality Court and the SA Human Rights Commission over his repeated singing of the song and more recently over comments he reportedly made at a Human Rights Day rally in Mafikeng about "white boer" journalists.

He charged that "white boer" journalists had a vendetta against him and that they knew nothing about the struggle for freedom.

Just over a week ago the Equality Court found Malema guilty of hate speech and harassment over comments he made about President Jacob Zuma's rape accuser.

- SAPA