The president of the Wits Student Representative Council (SRC), Mcebo Dlamini, has come under fire after stating on Facebook that he “loves Adolf Hitlerâ€.
According to the campus newspaper Wits Vuvuzela, Dlamini declared his admiration for the Nazi dictator in a comment on an image comparing the state of Israel to Nazi Germany.
Dlamini told the student paper that he admired Hitler for his “charisma and organisational skills†and that “we need more leaders of such calibre†and added that there was an elements of Hitler in all white men. He justified his views saying they cannot be deemed racist because black people do not possess the ability to be racist.
There was swift condemnation of Dlamini’s comments on Twitter.
Some of the most hateful people walk amongst us. They harbor supremacist & racist ideals & thrive on ‘othering’. #Mcebo Dlamini, WE SEE YOU!
— Sihle Ngobese (@SihleDLK) April 28, 2015
Me when #MceboDlamini said blacks can’t be racist pic.twitter.com/YdPjGsTNRE — 31/03/2015 (@lulushezi) April 28, 2015
Still, he was not without his supporters.
I stand in solidarity with Wits SRC president Mcebo Dlamini.
— Tsodiyo (@tokelonhlapo) April 28, 2015
mcebo dlamini.you rock my world. I would die to say almost all your words on world wide media. Im 100% behind you with all my body cells — titus (@titus_moate12) April 28, 2015
In a statement released on Tuesday, Wits University vice chancellor Adam Habib said Dlamini’s statements were “racist and offensive in the extreme†and had “violated the university’s fundamental valuesâ€.
“Valorising such an individual is utterly unacceptable and especially dangerous in a climate where we are experiencing xenophobic attacks. It violates the fundamental values of Wits University,†he wrote.
Habib referred Dlamini for investigation for disciplinary charges.
