Canada’s ruling racist, says ANC

CEDRIC MBOYISA

JOHANNESBURG - The ruling party has charged that Canada is “racist” for granting refugee status to a white South African man who claims he fears persecution by black people here.

“The ANC views the granting by Canada of refugee status to SA citizen Brandon Huntley, on the grounds Africans would ‘persecute’ him, as racist,” said ANC spokesman Brian Sokutu yesterday.

He added: “We find the claim by Huntley to have been attacked seven times by Africans due to his skin colour ‘without any police in- tervention’ sensational. Canada’s reasoning for granting Huntley refugee status can only serve to perpetuate racism.”

Sokutu said SA was a constitutional democracy with organs of State fully in place to fight crime without any reference to the race of a victim or perpetrator. “Crime fighting is at the core of the ANC’s commitment to create a stable environment for all South Africans regardless of colour or creed. Dealing with crime along racial lines can only serve to divide the nation.”

Huntley, 31, successfully applied for refugee status in Canada on the basis he feared for his life in SA because of his colour.

According to media reports, the Canadian immigration board ruled he had presented a convincing case of SA’s inability to protect him, and the board found he would stand out like a “sore thumb” due to his race in SA.

Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said Canadian authorities could at least have accorded SA an opportunity to state its side of the story.

AfriForum spokesman Willie Spies called on Dlaminini-Zuma to appoint a task team to probe the causes of the emigration of minority communities.

“SA’s human rights record has suffered serious damage as a result of the seemingly uncontrolled crime in the country, the government’s policy of silent diplomacy in Zimbabwe and the tolerance of racial rhetoric of role-players such as Judge John Hlophe and ANCYL president Julius Malema.”