‘Homosexuality comes from the Illuminati’

Andr� Slade, the owner of Sodwana Bay Guest House, stated in an email that they "do not accommodate blacks or government employees any longer".

Andr� Slade, the owner of Sodwana Bay Guest House, stated in an email that they "do not accommodate blacks or government employees any longer".

Published Jun 26, 2016

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Durban - Guest houses and tour operators in Sodwana Bay on the edge of the World Heritage Site iSimangaliso Wetland Park, are playing a waiting game to see if the latest racism incident will affect business.

Durban woman, Sizakele Msimango, was told this week that she and her party of relatives would not be welcome at Sodwana Bay Guest House because “we do not accommodate blacks or government officials any longer”.

Read: ANCYL to march on ‘racist’ guesthouse

Owner Andre Slade’s e-mailed response to Msimango’s enquiry about accommodation caused a storm on social media, and a flurry of complaints were made to the Human Rights Commission.

Neil Fivaz, the owner of Visagie guest house in Sodwana, said he was shocked by Slade’s racist attitude.

“I can’t believe that people can say things like that, it is from long ago. About 60 percent of my guests are black, 20 percent of which are government workers. I don’t know why he (Slade) has a problem with government officials,” he said.

Richard Scott, the owner of Sodwana Bay Lodge, said his staff had received a number of threatening and offensive calls from people wrongly assuming theirs was the racist resort making news.

He even had to correct the ANC Youth League, which e-mailed him, threatening a picket.

“This is bad for business and the local people are unhappy about this racism,” he said.

Other operators shared this sentiment, saying that if anything, Slade’s actions would affect his own business.

Andrew Zaloumis, the chief executive of iSimangaliso, distanced the park from the latest racist incident, and sent written complaints to the Human Rights Commission and Public Protector.

“There has been extensive collaboration with communities in the region to build tourism, and this kind of action by an individual has a negative impact on the prosperity of all,” he said.

On Saturday Slade’s cellphone message box was full, and his wife Katarina’s went unanswered.

On Friday, when this reporter tried to make a booking, ostensibly for a gay couple, Slade said homosexuals were also not welcome.

“God’s law says it (homosexuality) is not permissible. It is a correction that needs to happen, it comes from the Illuminati,” he said.

Slade’s personal and religious beliefs are contained in his “Where to from Here” blog, tying together various religious texts, conspiracy theories and racist beliefs that whites and blacks be segregated, because it is “God’s law”.

Provincial and national tourism bosses have launched an investigation and lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Commission against the guest house.

The newly appointed MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Sihle Zikalala, told the Sunday Tribune on Friday that there was no place for racist attitudes in our country.

“We will be interacting with the people involved in tourism there. It is important to engage with them and to win them over. We will be going there to lay down the law and then take action,” he said.

It is not the first time operators in the region have been called to order over racism.

It took the town of St Lucia a number of years to shake off its racist stigma after Zikalala’s predecessor, Mike Mabuyakhulu, rounded on establishments which barred black guests, following a Human Rights Commission inquiry.

Sunday Tribune

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