The Nazi’s had the brown shirts that went around terrorising minorities. South Africa has the red shirts. #BrackenfellHigh
— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) November 9, 2020
The DA has compared members of the EFF that clashed with parents at Brackenfell High to Nazis in a party statement that has not been well received on the anniversary of Kristallnacht.
Students at Brackenfell High organised a private matriculates function, which was reportedly only attended by white students and their parents. And, while the school has distanced itself from the event, the EFF says that it must take some responsibility due to the fact that there were teachers in attendance.
Following protests on Friday, EFF members continued to express their outrage on Monday, calling for the dismissal of the principal and two teachers. Several parents at the school gathered to counter-protest, which resulted in violent clashes.
The party has vowed to march upon Brackenfell “in its entirety and ensure nothing operates” after Monday’s violent clash with residents.
Following the propagation of several videos of the incident on social media, the DA released a statement that compared the EFF part members in the Brackenfell High clash to Nazis.
They condemned the clash, labelling it as “ongoing threatening attempts by the EFF to bend society to its will by interfering where it has absolutely no business to be,” as reported by IOL.
The DA also referred to the EFF’s violent clashes at Clicks stores in September when condemning the EFF’s violent conduct.
“Following the burning and trashing of stores because of what the they consider offensive advertising, and seeking to tell Chief Executive Officers how to run their businesses, the EFF now thinks it has the right to control how citizens run private functions,” the party statement continued. “Violent confrontations will do nothing to advance rational analysis, which is more needed in South Africa today than ever before.
“If we are to prevent people taking the law into their own hands, the Police must do their job properly. It was the job of SAPS to prevent and disperse the EFF unlawfully gathering outside a school and seeking to infringe on the rights of private citizens.
“The Nazis had the brown shirts that went around terrorising minorities. South Africa has the red shirts.”
The Nazi comparison, however, was not well received at all, especially due to the fact that Monday was the anniversary of Kristallnacht or the Night of Broken Glass, where Adolf Hitler’s Sturmabteilung (SA) carried out a pogrom against Jews throughout Nazi Germany.
Ummm? Did @Our_DA just compare the @EFFSouthAfrica members to Nazis? For the record - the EFF weren’t the ones doing the beating up in this incident. #brackenfellhigh #Brackenfellhighschool https://t.co/RPrq71UIOi
— Bianca van Wyk (@BiancavanWyk16) November 9, 2020
That's low for such an esteemed party with colonial heritage to compare anyone or any party to the Nazis. Expected better especially from minorities within the minority.
— Farouk 🇿🇦 (@iron_faa) November 9, 2020
The saddest part is that they blatantly committed Holocaust Revisionism by calling peaceful protesters Nazis which is an attempt to trivialize atrocities committed by Nazi Germany against the Jews. The DA is no different from the National Socialist White People's Party!
— Siphiwe Thithila (@siplikhuleni) November 10, 2020
While the DA clearly intended to trigger an emotional response through their statement, many believe that it was made in poor taste, given the broader context. However, there were some who defended the statement, saying it’s not the first time that the EFF has been compared to the fascist party that has become the universal symbol for evil. No retraction has been issued by the DA at the time of writing.
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