Johannesburg - An unapologetic racist says “blacks and government workers” are not allowed to stay at his guest house because “it’s God's law” to segregate people by race.
André Slate, the owner of Sodwana Bay Guest House in KwaZulu-Natal, made this declaration when responding to a booking enquiry sent by Sizakele Msimango on Wednesday.
“We do not accommodate blacks or government employees any longer,” he stated in an e-mail.
Msimango said she and her cousin had found the place – whose tagline on the internet is “Better than home” – and were looking to book for 12 people.
“I was so angry. When I showed my cousin, she said we should post it on social media.”
Msimango also responded to Slate’s mail, saying: “This is appalling. This makes me wonder to myself if the president of this country (the country you live in) is not allowed in your whites-only guest house since he is black?”
Slate, the self-proclaimed “King of the Zulu/Heavenly Kingdom”, is a religious fanatic who, in his blog and book called Where to from Here, Cognition, states that blacks need to be kept separate from other races.
When the Daily News sister newspaper, The Star phoned the 52-year-old, who says he has a “great passion for the ocean, nature and people”, he seemed unperturbed: “My book explains everything. You cannot speak to me until you've read my book.”
He went on to say he was aware that the constitution did not allow discrimination based on race, but he followed only one law.
“Well, according to your constitution, perhaps yes, but we work according to God’s law, and according to God’s law, we have to have some sort of segregation between the creation that he left here… the law you have in South Africa is Satan’s law.”
In his blog, wheretofromhere.org, Slate mentions DA leader Mmusi Maimane, who he calls a “beast” and “little bastard”.
After the matter blew up on social media, other people tried calling him themselves, and got the same response Msimango did.