Zama Khumalo, the man who recently insulted the family and friends of the 42 children who died in the Westdene bus disaster, today complied with a ruling of the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to clean the graves of the deceased children.
The event was attended by Media 24’s legal representation, Jurgens Bekker Attorneys and two representatives from Media 24. Elize Venter represented the families and friends of the victims. A representative of the SAHRC was also present.
During the SAHRC hearing Elize Venter made some suggestions she felt may assist in rehabilitating Khumalo’s racist attitude. These included Khumalo visiting this website and visiting the cemetary in the presence of friends and family of the victims to help clean the graves and lay fresh flowers.
In a Facebook message to the author Venter shared her impressions about the day at the cemetery. “I felt it was important for me to go with Khumalo to avoid him feeling that an unpleasant task was being forced on him. I simply wanted him to get closer to the hurt that the disaster caused and to better understand why his racist statements had such a hurtful effect.” There were objections to the cleaning operation by some unknown ally of Khumalo but he, to his credit, decided to go. At the cemetery Venter and Khumalo removed the old flowers and laid fresh ones. Venter related the day of the disaster to Khumalo and she shared something about each of the victims. She felt he was receptive to the information and was very apologetic. He mentioned that both his parents had passed and that he would also not appreciate someone insulting their memory. Whether the apology was genuine, only time will tell.
There are some events being planned to with the anniversary date of the Westdene Bus Disaster drawing near. Please join our Facebook group to keep up to date.
Allow that racist pig to touch their graves – NO! NO! NO! Keep him away. [This post was edited to remove content that may incite violence and/or be construed as libel]
He has to go to prison. It offends me that he is and cleaning their graves. How could you allow him to touch our Angels’ graves? Why isn’t he standing trial for hate speech and inciting violence? If his life was not threatened he would have carried on with his hate speech towards whites. [This post was edited to remove content that may incite violence and/or be construed as libel]
Why was this statement made by him not blown up like it would have been if the tables had been turned and it was made by a “whiteness” against blacks. I’m absolutely horrified at what was said by him and understand now why reconciliation will never be what we want it to be. So he apologised and everything is ok…..I don’t think so! He sickens me to the core!!!
Hi there,
Freedom of speech is a powerful tool and our youth should be encouraged to us this tool in a respectful and responsible manner. We should do more than what we are currently doing. I believe that we are not doing enough. Yes, we all have our personal lives but we are paying a very high price for our comforts. If you are looking the other way when such inhumane acts are committed you are as guilty as the entity committing the crime because it is not a crime against a person but a crime against the building blocks of our society.
Let’s do more and go even further.
Imraan Grace