Cape Town - The Economic Freedom Fighters used Heritage Day as a platform to call for the removal of Die Stem from the national anthem.
But already the ANC said the party must be drunk to be making this demand.
The EFF’s national spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said in a statement that the Afrikaans section of the anthem was oppressive.
Ndlozi said: “It is a song of oppressors, racists and mass murderers.
“Nkosi Sikelele must be sung in the same way as our people did when they were praying for a land free from oppression during colonial and apartheid years.
“National anthems are songs of collective pride and we cannot be proud of the songs of mass murderous regimes.”
The EFF has been singing the anthem without Die Stem at their events.
But other political parties do not share the EFF’s views.
Provincial ANC Chairperson Marius Fransman said it is irresponsible to speak of removing Die Stem: “Africa has the unique feature of coming together even in diversity.
“We did not engage in civil war [after apartheid], we engaged in negotiations, there was a give and take and the anthem was part of it.
“The EFF knows they will never govern so they will say anything, it’s like they are drunk.”
Ses’khona Peoples Movement, representing thousands of informal settlement residents, have also slammed the EFF’s call.
The group’s leader Andile Lili said there are bigger things to worry about than the anthem.
Lili said: “These are petty things to worry about when we have people who are hungry and living in shacks.
“There is nothing wrong with Die Stem, what is wrong is the Constitution that allows for people to live in shacks.
“These people who want it removed are opportunistic, the anthem is 100 percent fine the way it was composed, it includes everyone.
“We will not be like children and ask for childish things.”
The General Secretary of the Freedom Front Plus said members of their party were involved in negotiations for the transfer of power in 1994 and the anthem was part of those talks.
Piet Uys said: “The anthem was agreed upon by everyone involved, the whole country got behind it and had no problem with it.
“The EFF comes along and they look for trouble at every corner, they are not always wrong, it’s just the way they go about it that is wrong.”
Cosatu’s Tony Ehrenreich said as a country it would be wrong to go back on our word to include diverse culture in our anthem.
Ehrenreich said: “We have compromised as a country, the anthem is one of those compromises and we should not go back on it.”
DA leader Mmusi Maimane’s spokesperson, Mabine Seabe, agreed that the anthem was constructed to involve everyone and should stay as is.
Daily Voice