“Someone needs to go bury some dead pigs
on that [mosque] property! ‘Defile’ the land!”

Why has the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) allowed that ‘holy pig’ comment, in reference to the proposed Knysna mosque, to stand on their candidate Schalk van der Merwe’s Facebook page the past 3 days? Are they asking Knysna to vote for hate?

Yesterday, I posted criticism of Schalk van der Merwe. Some thought I was too strong but I declare that it wasn’t harsh enough. His negative attitude reflects the party as its nakedly appearing on their website page. If anything, people should be condemning their actions and non-actions, and the hypocrisy of their position. If they aren’t, then they’re not standing up for good, their silence supporting evil (I’m putting this in biblical terms so it’s more black and white for my readers who classify themselves as Christians).

SCHALK VAN DER MERWE’S IN TROUBLE

Schalk van der Merwe knows he’s in trouble for forcefully sharing defamation and lies that favour himself and the ACDP. Why else would he take down his most legally liable post (which discredited an activist and a whistleblower so as to promote himself and the ACDP) and then challenge candidates to work for no pay? Yes, I’d love all our leaders to earn less but Schalk’s challenge is empty because 1. he’s rich 2. it wasn’t part of his campaign until he got himself into trouble 3. he’s not going to win so the sum of his non-existent salary is zero, nada, nothing.

The anti-Moslem piggie comment is just the latest misstep. Shame on Lance Richard Albon for making that comment… and shame on Dirk van der Merwe and Graham Cooper for liking it (a third name removed after she unliked the post).

Almost as bad is that majority of Likes and Shares of the post as a whole (which included the Western Cape ACDP), was made after the comment was posted i.e. some of the participants must have seen that first comment.

The biggest guilt must fall on the ACDP. Why have they, which includes leader Shakespeare Arends and candidate Ian Uys, allowed their party to be represented by repeated controversies this week? Why have they done nothing about it???

KNYSNA MOSQUE

Their repeated complaint is that the Democratic Alliance (DA) has wasted a million rand of public funds on court fees protecting their approval of the Knysna mosque. Alone, it’s a valid complaint. The mosque is in contravention of municipal by-laws. The better approach would’ve been to downsize the mosque so that not only would it be legal but would reveal the religiously intolerant hiding behind the shouting of “it’s against the law”. Knysna (by that, I mean most of us), needs resolution.

But the ACDP’s abuse of public funds outrage cannot be looked at alone. It’s clear that they don’t want a mosque to be built. And candidate Ian Uys is also the chairman of the Knysna Ratepayers’ Association (KRA) which is also opposing the mosque. Consequently, I have to wonder if the ACDP’s opposition is because of the contravention of by-laws or because of hate. Leon Naude, the previous chair of the KRA, was removed after I led a Facebook protest against him because he wanted live bullets used on Knysna protestors. Why did I lead that outrage instead of then vice-chair of the KRA, Ian Uys?

ARE WE HOLY PIGS?

Are the Knysna candidates representative of the spirit of the ACDP? If not, will national leadership act against them?

What kind of people are we? Or, at least, what kind of people do we want to be? Those questions should be amplified by those attending church this weekend. Their congregations should debate it.

I believe that most will make the right choice. They will understand that religion is never going to conveniently disappear and that warring against each other isn’t practical nor representative of what we want for our town. They will accept that the best way forward is self-determined religion in our personal spaces that respects the religion of others when we’re in public.

What I’m less sure of is if there are people honest enough to condemn the Knysna ACDP for their multitude of irresponsible actions this week. I can, at least, hope that you don’t vote for hate.

I’m proud to hold up my middle fingers to ‘holy pigs’ and those who seek to damage our town. My only regret is that I don’t have enough middle fingers to express how much I love Knysna.