A poster that was put up on the second floor of the 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria to raise awareness of violence in South Africa in an attempt to teach people not to resort to violence is in fact, inciting violence. (Poster attached herewith.)
The poster is absolutely racist as it consistently blames apartheid for the violence in South Africa.
The poster's message, accompanied by sketches for illustration, starts by saying that during the years of apartheid, people's circumstances led to "anger and violence", because their human rights were violated.
It proceeds to state that people only had access to poor medical facilities, did not have enough food and clean drinking water, and that they suffered violence at the hands of the police and defence force.
It adds that young people could not get a proper education, which prevented them from getting good jobs.
All these things resulted in "anger and violence". Communities learnt to protect themselves by using violence.
And although there has been a change in government, the violence remained seeing as weapons became "a part of people's daily lives" and violence became part of black people's "culture".
This poster is not only racist, but it also justifies violence against the backdrop of apartheid and disturbs racial relations.
This is a very serious matter, in my view, and I will send a letter to the Minister of Defence, Ms Thandi Modise, demanding that the poster must be taken down everywhere.
Government must move away from its habit of blaming apartheid for everything, from poor service delivery to social problems that are actually the result of its own incompetence.
Nothing could ever serve to justify violence, which generally affects women and children.
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