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“Mugabe’s focus on the whites and the British because he does not have answers for the problems his own government has created. This is an old political tactic. Hitler singled out the Jews as scapegoats for everything that was wrong in Germany. We know how tragically that ended. In the same manner the focus is presently being placed on white people in South Africa and racism is used in every debate in order to deflect the attention away from the real problems in South Africa,” Dr. Pieter Mulder, the FF Plus leader said in the president’s budget debate in Parliament.

“This is short term politics. This is lazy politics. It is politics which incites people against each other without thinking about the long term consequences of this for South Africa,” Dr. Mulder said.

In his reaction Dr. Mulder referred to the Zuma painting and to the placards which were displayed by ANC members during the ANC march yesterday. Some of the placards read: “Whites hate Blacks”.

“In this country there will always be whites and blacks. I am not planning to leave this country and I am not planning to allow myself to be intimidated by racist propaganda. We can live together in conflict and hate or in harmony and peace. Leaders’ comments and examples will determine which of the two’s recipe we will follow. That is why it is necessary to learn that we can disagree with each other and to debate with each other without hiding behind the race card ever time,” according to Mulder.