EThekwini Municipality Speaker Thabani Nyawose is accused of failing to act against the councillor who made racist remarks in the council. | Bongani Mbatha/ Independent Newspapers
Durban — The DA in KwaZulu-Natal has called for the resignation of eThekwini Municipality Speaker Thabani Nyawose for failing to act against the ANC councillor who made a racist remark against Indians.
The remarks “Indians must go back to Bombay” are said to have come from the ANC benches during the full council meeting last week, but to date, the municipality has not been able to identify the culprit although it announced an investigation the following day.
However, the ANC in eThekwini dismissed the assertion that its party’s councillor had uttered the “racist” words. The DA has announced that it had filed a motion calling for the removal of the Speaker, accusing him of shielding the ANC councillor who uttered remarks.
Speaking to the Daily News on Tuesday, the DA’s provincial chairperson Dean Macpherson said the party was tabling a motion of no confidence against the Speaker.
“We are tabling a motion of no confidence against the speaker for his shielding of this racism during the council meeting. The DA cannot allow racists in the ANC to get away with their assault on the Indian community and the unwillingness of the leadership of the council to do anything about it,” said Macpherson.
The remarks that sparked anger from the Indian community were directed at DA councillor Yogis Govender during the debate on the 1860 monument statute, which has been proposed to be erected in honour of the arrival of the first batch of indentured servants from India in the then Natal in 1860.
Govender also told the paper that the party filed the motion on Tuesday.
She said she was disturbed that the identity of the councillor remains unknown to the DA, adding that she had no doubt that the ANC knew who it was as those sitting next to him would have seen him switch his microphone on and off to make the utterances.
Govender also questioned the Speaker’s seriousness about dealing with the matter.
“Besides the speaker issuing his feeble statement (a day later), there has been no further communication on the matter either directly to myself or the DA leadership in eThekwini or the province. I suspect that they hope that this issue will fade away so that the investigation to find the perpetrator becomes of no consequence. This can not be allowed to happen as this has caused much hurt and anger within the ranks of the community,” said Govender.
In the statement issued by the Speaker, he condemned the incident and vowed to get to the bottom of it promising action against the councillor if he was found. The ANC eThekwini region issued its own statement condemning the incident and called on the Speaker to investigate.
Adding his voice in condemning the incident, African Democratic Change councillor Niel Patchapen said the comments went beyond political rhetoric and struck at the core values of humanity, respect and unity that all South Africans hold dearly.
The Speaker’s spokesperson Mack Makhathini said once the investigation has been concluded the findings will be made public. He refused to comment on the DA’s motion.
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