“Why must I answer a white racist woman? There are ward councillors in all 34 wards,” was the response from JB Marks mayoral spokesperson, Victor Boqo, to a woman on Facebook who voiced that service delivery in the municipality was not up to scratch. The woman had a few choice words for the mayor and his team, but apart from feelings being hurt, none of these words could be seen as racist.
Boqo has since stated that his Facebook account was hacked and he has no knowledge of the posts. “I believe and practise the values of my beloved party, the ANC, which it has fought for, to see a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa,” Boqo stated.
Regardless of what transpired in this specific incident, it did bring to light a growing trend among many politicians of playing the race card to escape accountability. In South Africa, people have paid hefty fines and even been sent to jail for racist utterances, ala Penny Sparrow and Vicky Momberg. In a country with such a divisive past as South Africa’s, it is dangerous and reckless to accuse someone of being a racist without anything to substantiate the accusation. There should be no fear of pointing out actual racists within our communities, but beware of using it as a deflection tool.
We live in a society which is against racism in all its forms, yet accusing someone of being a racist has become a convenient response when there are no answers to a question, especially if the question comes from white people.
It has become easier to say “well, that white person is racist and therefore is of the opinion that service delivery is bad” instead of actually addressing service delivery. Apart from the possible repercussions for the person who is being accused of being a racist, such responses imply that officials or politicians don’t care about concerns from white residents.