ANC opens case against DA deputy provincial leader after alleged insult of foreign nationals

The African National Congress in KwaZulu-Natal has opened a case of crime injuria against Democratic Alliance deputy provincial leader Mergan Chetty after he allegedly referred to foreign nationals as "amakwerekwere".

ANC provincial spokesperson Mdumiseni Ntuli said the charges had been opened at the Mountain Rise police station in Pietermaritzburg, with the police promising to investigate the matter.

Ntuli said the charges emanated from a telephone conversation Chetty had with his former colleague, councillor Lungisani Sikhakhane, who was now an ANC member.

The word used is a derogatory term used to describe foreign nationals.

Ntuli said the ANC would continue to take action against South Africans who made racial and discriminatory comments that offended other race groups, including geographic segregation, religious, gender and economic oppression. 

DA provincial leader Zwakele Mncwango said it was incorrect for anyone to use such derogatory terms, especially public figures, but said Sikhakhane had admitted to him that they were joking.

Mncwango said he suspected that this was part of a political ploy ahead of a by-election coming up in Ward 32 in Umsunduzi.