CAPE TOWN, March 27 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) on Monday called on Parliament to fasttrack promulgation of an anti-hate crime bill
The ANC has been pushing for the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill to criminalize racism, which many fear is rearing its head in South Africa.
"The racist onslaught has become more direct; racists in our society are getting even more emboldened, entrenching anger amongst the people," the ANC said in a statement.
It came after the ANC's National Executive Committee (NEC) held an ordinary meeting on March 24-26 in Gauteng Province to discuss issues including the recent incidents of racism.
South Africa has seen an outburst of racist remarks on social media. In the latest incident, a Limpopo man posted about crowded beaches in Amanzimtoti, south of Durban, calling black beachgoers "cockroaches" who stole money to go on holiday.
This came almost a year after a similar post by an estate agent calling black beachgoers "monkeys."
The re-emergence of racially based superiority and privilege, if left unchecked, will derail South Africa's advance to a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic society, the ANC said.
"For the past 22 years, we have been in dialogue with our erstwhile oppressors, however in many sectors of society the olive branch offered by our people has been met with disdain and disregard," the party said.
This has become even worse following the local elections on August 3 last year, the party said, arguing that its setback created a feeble hope among ardent racists that they will once again be in power in the 2019 general elections.
In the 2016 elections, the ANC lost control of three metropolitans -- Pretoria, Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela Bay.
