A Johannesburg city councilor interrupted a pro-Israel Jewish colleague with remarks about Nazi leader Adolf Hitler at a Thursday meeting, and threatened to wear a shirt emblazoned with Hitler's face if the opposing politician continued to use a laptop computer with an Israeli-South African flag case.
Patriotic Alliance member and Community Development councilor Tebogo Nkonkou took offense to Democratic Alliance councilor Daniel Schay's Israel-themed paraphernalia, which included a tie and computer case. Nkonkou demanded that the Israeli flag not be displayed in the chamber because it represented the killing of innocent women and children.
"I will also come with a shirt with the face of Hitler," Nkonkou said to Speaker Nobuhle Mthembu. "I will do that because you allowed this to happen."
Mthembu said that Nkonkou was setting a bad example, but the PA member continued to interrupt Schay's speech, interjecting, "We want Hitler."
An Economic Freedom Fighters party member said that the display of the flag was an abuse to them.
Tebogo Nkonkou, a Johannesburg City Councillor's remarks about 'wanting Hitler.' (Credit: City of Johannesburg/Youtube)
"This flag, we really can't stand it, we can't stand the flag of apartheid country in a country where we experienced apartheid," said the EFF councilor. "Kids are being killed in Gaza even today and you are watching."
Councilors continued to heckle Schay, decrying the "racist flag" and chanting "from the river to the sea, free free Palestine."
Schay said on X Friday that behavior of the African National Congress-led body demonstrated why US President Donald Trump hated the party.
The South African Jewish Board of Deputies denounced Nkonkou's rhetoric as "abhorrent" and labeled his call "we want Hitler" as " a blatant act of antisemitic intimidation directed at the one visibly Jewish councilor. Such remarks are not only morally repugnant but also legally indefensible."
"South Africa is a country built on the principles of democracy, inclusivity, and respect for human rights," the board said on Facebook. "For an elected public representative to invoke Hitler – a figure synonymous with genocide and the systematic extermination of six million Jews – as a means of threatening a Jewish councilor is despicable, deeply offensive, and contrary to the values that all South Africans hold dear. It also draws into question whether such an individual should be fit for public office of any kind. The SAJBD condemns these statements and the hostile atmosphere they create."
Praise for Leila Khaled
At the meeting, DA Councilor Lynda Shackleford also introduced a motion to rescind a 2018 decision to rename a road after Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist Leila Khaled. Shackleford presented the formal objections of 5000 residents who opposed the name change.
DA Councilor Martin Williams said that it was "deeply concerning that an individual such as Leila Khaled who has been involved in violent acts that have violated the rights of innocent citizens and caused significant harm across the globe could even be considered for the honor of having a road named after her. Her actions, which include terrorist activities, cannot in any way be equated to the ideals of freedom and peace that we should aspire to."
Nkonkou said that a symbol that resonated "across the continents is Leila Khaled a revolutionary, a freedom fighter, and a symbol of resistance against imperialism."
"Leila Khaled became an international icon of arm struggle," said Nkonkou. "Through her role in the Palestinian liberation movement she risked everything to show the world that the oppressed will not acceptation [sic] quietly."
Another councilor said that Khaled was a freedom fighter "who went on a mission to hijack a plane to put pressure" on Israel, and that those calling her a terrorist also labeled former South African leader Nelson Mandela the same.
The motion to rescind the name change was rejected, with the DA saying in a Thursday statement that the council had ignored the concerns of thousands of residents and prioritized wasting funds on the renaming rather than essential services. Williams said that the fight against naming the fairway after the terrorist would continue.
The Jewish Board said on Facebook that it would also continue to oppose the renaming and would work to find a solution that would unite rather than divide.
