The DA says it has lodged a complaint against UCT lecturer, Professor Lwazi Lushaba, with the Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) following his alleged comments regarding Adolf Hitler in a pre-recorded lecture.
The University of Cape Town has also launched an investigation into comments allegedly made by Lushaba that Adolf Hitler ‘committed no crime’.
The DA will lodge a complaint against UCT lecturer, Lwazi Lushaba, with the South African Human Rights Commission following his racist comments regarding Adolf Hitler on a pre-recorded lecture. – @Natasha9Mazzone https://t.co/yYaogf6Nhc
— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) April 9, 2021
The DA has urged UCT Vice-Chancellor, Mamokgethi Phakeng, to place Lushaba on suspension. However, lobby group Africa4Palestine has supported Lushaba saying his comments were taken out of context.
The group’s Bram Hanekom says Lushaba was trying to say that no community’s suffering should be prioritised over another.
“I think that this matter has been taken quite seriously out of context. He went on in the next sentence to say we must see the holocaust in exactly the same way that we see massacres of black people and not privilege one over the other. Listen to the entire lecture because the point he raised was it’s not to say that it was acceptable. He called Hitler a fascist in the lecture. It was merely to say no community’s suffering should be prioritised over another community’s suffering.”
In a statement, the DA said Lushaba’s comments were not only racist, offensive and vile, but also completely insensitive to the victims and survivors of the Holocaust and the Jewish community as a whole.
The DA has taken note that UCT will probe Lushaba’s comments and we urge the institution’s Vice-Chancellor Mamokgethi Phakeng to place him on suspension pending the investigation. – @Natasha9Mazzone
— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) April 9, 2021
In the interview below on SAFM, Chairperson of the Cape South African Jewish Board of Deputies Tzvi Brivik and a member of the Palestinian lobby group, Africa4Palestine Bram Hanekom speak out about Prof Lushaba’s comments:
