President Jacob Zuma’s son, Edward Zuma, is under pressure after the ANC issued an ultimatum instructing him to apologise for calling MPs Pravin Gordhan and Derek Hanekom defenders of white monopoly capital.
Edward was given until Wednesday midnight to apologise. He has since missed this deadline.
Edward also called Hanekom a white Afrikaner askari. “Askari” was a term used to describe an ANC member who changed sides and joined the apartheid government’s police force.
On Wednesday, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) said it was still discussing appropriate redress against Edward.
“We opened a case after seeing the contents of the letter written by Zuma. We are still discussing how he should correct offensive comments he made in the letter,” said SAHRC spokesperson Gail Smith.
“He can be instructed to write another letter apologising to South Africans or (apologise by) any other means,” she said
Smith said if Edward ignored the SAHRC instructions, the matter would be taken to the equality court.
Contacted for comment, Edward said he did not know what the SAHRC was and had never spoken to them.
“No one from the SAHRC has contacted me. If they have opened a case against me, that would be surprising.
“Have they opened a case against those who call my father a zombie, did they open a case against the coffin assault case perpetrators?” he asked.
Asked if he had apologised for comments made in the letter, as instructed by the ANC, he said he wrote it in his personal capacity: “I am not retracting anything for now, I will hear from the ANC.”
ANC provincial spokesperson Mdumiseni Ntuli said if Edward did not apologise, he would face disciplinary action.
Meanwhile, the ANC Youth League in the province has supported the calls instructing Edward to apologise, saying no party member had the right to provoke party leaders in
public.
KZN Youth League secretary-general Thanduxolo Sabelo said if Edward did not apologise, disciplinary action should be taken against him as with MP Makhosi Khoza.