Cape Town - Controversial Beaufort West Mayor Truman Prince has rejected a complaint of racism laid against him by the DA, saying he can’t be racist because “I am the Rainbow Nation”.
DA constituency head for Beaufort West Sharna Fernandez laid the complaint against Prince with the SA Human Rights Commission last week. She now says she has fresh evidence, including an audio recording of Prince addressing a rally on Monday in which he also allegedly uses derogatory language.
The original complaint stems from an incident in which Prince is alleged to have driven past a group of DA supporters, calling them a “klomp dom ape” (“bunch of dumb apes”) over a loudhailer.
Fernandez says she gave the commission seven sworn affidavits to this effect, along with a complaint over Prince telling a disabled DA supporter he was still trapped in a wheelchair despite voting for white people.
But Prince says this is grandstanding on the part of Fernandez.
“They can say whatever they want about me, but people know, I’m a people’s person. You can come with a problem, I don’t see colour. The last issue was, I was a racist, but how can I be a racist?
“You know, if Mandela talked about the rainbow nation, he was actually talking about Truman Prince, because my origination is a conglomeration of all the races,” Prince said.
Prince has previously been accused of shoving a DA councillor and assaulting a traffic officer, but he denies these charges.
Political Bureau