DA to lay complaint against EFF’s Nazier Paulsen at SAHRC

Dear Cape Town

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will lay a complaint at the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) against EFF Member of Parliament Nazier Paulsen over offensive remarks he recently made on social media against members of the Coloured community. (See examples here, here and here.)

These vile remarks he made were derogatory and dehumanizing and it is astounding that Paulsen even went so far as to try and defend his deplorable remarks in a Facebook post.

The DA finds it incredibly ironic that the EFF paints itself as the slayers of racism, protesting left, right and centre whenever an opportunity for posturing presents itself, but fails to address the racism at its own core. Paulsen is nothing if not a hypocrite, feeling comfortable calling a whole group of people “brown pets” and “monkey face” and then vandalizing and destroying property, intimidating workers and inciting violence when the alleged racism comes from outside the EFF.

It would not be the first time that the DA has taken a firm stance against Paulsen. Earlier this year we opened a case against Paulsen and EFF leader Julius Malema for incitement to violence, and yesterday a complaint was lodged with Parliament’s Ethics Committee for the offensive remarks on social media.

The DA trusts that the SAHRC takes the investigation of Paulsen’s posts in as serious a light as it did the investigation of the racist Clicks ad. There can be no distinction or favour regarding the investigation of racism and bigotry and the serious damage it does to the fabric of our society.

Regards

Natasha Mazzone MP
Chief Whip of the Official Opposition