Racial Bigotry Has No Place In NZ

December 21, 2017

An expat South African uses wants to celebrate a Zulu massacre, and PAT PILCHER says that’s just not acceptable in New Zealand.

 

Sometimes you read something that leaves you completely gobsmacked. Local media has featured a story about Rudi du Plooy, a South African expat living in New Zealand. At a Hamilton church he preached to a group of 20 people, calling for a New Zealand version of the Day of the Vow. While the average Kiwi may shrug their shoulders and go ‘so what?’, the move marks what could become an alarming trend within New Zealand.

The Day of the Vow occurs on December 16 and is all about honouring the 1838 Battle of Blood River in South Africa. This saw 460 Afrikaners using guns to fight off 20,000 Zulu warriors armed with nothing more than spears. Unsurprisingly, a whopping 3000 Zulu warriors were gunned down and killed while only three Afrikaners were injured. When apartheid ended in South Africa, the day changed to the far more rational and reasonable national Day of Reconciliation.

Du Plooy told attendees that they were stuck in an “era of being politically correct”. He argued that the day should be reinstated, given attacks on white farmers in South Africa by what he assumes are black Africans (a sweeping generalisation if there ever was one).

Du Plooy isn’t in South Africa, this is New Zealand, an enlightened democracy that prides itself on a serious intolerance of racism of any kind.

While this bullshit may’ve been celebrated in South Africa during white rule, there is absolutely no good reason for it to be celebrated here. Our founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi, enshrines bicultural harmony and mutual respect between to the two key cultures of New Zealand.

Furthermore, New Zealand law has some fundamental views on race relations as part of the Bill of Rights Act 1990 and the Human Rights act 1993. Section 19 of the Act explicitly guarantees freedom from discrimination. Surely, Du Plooy’s toxic views are a breach of one of these acts.

A key appeal of NZ to overseas visitors is its political and racial stability. Should the toxic and bigoted propaganda espoused by Du Plooy gain any traction, New Zealand’s remarkable race relations record could be undermined.

Like most New Zealanders, I take a huge amount of pride in the colour blindness and tolerance of New Zealanders. Our Pacific paradise has no place for the sort bigotry preached by Du Plooy.

Sadly, at the time of writing the Race Relations Commissioners Office had received no complaints about this. I would encourage all Witchdoctor readers who feel as strongly about stopping racism and hate as I do to contact the office and lay a complaint.

Some say hate is the opposite of love, but in this case apathy is. Now is the time to take a stand against bigotry and hatred.

 

 

Pat has been talking about tech on TV, radio and print for over 20 years, having served time as a TV tech guy and currently penning reviews for Witchdoctor. He loves nothing more than rolling his sleeves up and playing with shiny gadgets.

2 Comments

  1. The day of the vow is not about celebrating a Zulu massacre. It’s a religious celebration. The honoring of a vow made to God. And if anybody has a problem with that, don’t be thinking about celebrating the end of World War 2. An event which came about by the nuclear obliteration of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Oh, Japanese aren’t black.

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