Panyaza Lesufi to Maimane: Don't use my name to please racists
- Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi has clapped back at Mmusi Maimane over the role Afrikaans plays in SA
- The Democratic Alliance leader had warned against targeting the language in his Heritage Day address
- Lesufi, on the other hand, insists that he will always support all languages, but condemned instances where others were excluded
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Mmusi Maimane used his Heritage Day address to warn against excluding any particular race, culture or language.
The DA leader told attendants listening to his speech that there were individuals who sought to divide:
"I fear there are some that want to divide us. I fear there are those who want to stand up, that are spewing hatred against other people."
Maimane continued that there are citizens who were trying to 'shut down the language of other people'. The opposition leader warned that this action would start at one language and spill over onto others until South Africans lost the right to 'stand together'.
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READ ALSO: ‘I don’t hate Afrikaans’, but change must happen, Lesufi says
Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi, who had strongly condemned the concept of an Afrikaans-only university opening in his province, clapped back at Maimane:
"Mmusi Maimane, please don’t use my name to please racists. If you are scared of racists that’s not my problem. I will always support all languages but will caution against a university that will exclude the poor and vulnerable on the basis of language."
Briefly.co.za reported that Lesufi had come out in firm opposition to the construction of the university, saying that it reminded of apartheid's injustices and excluded citizens based on language.
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Source: Briefly News
