The other day I received an email which had an attachment of a Facebook page supposedly from a page dedicated to Julius Malema. I am sure most of you have seen it and have been shocked by what the post mentions. It is vulgar, racist nonsense that does not belong in this world, never mind this country. The e-mail spread like wild-fire and talk-shows and newspapers were all over it like Graeme Smith on a leg side delivery. People were saying things like: "How can Julius Malema make statements like that?" and "what a racist!" and the classic line "where is this country going?".
I had a proper look at the page and quickly came to a few conclusions:
1. Julius Malema never actually made those statements, someone else did.
2. Anyone can open a fan page on Facebook and put whatever they want on it. How do we know that Julius Malema even knows about it
3. Does anyone even know if the person spewing this racist nonsense even exists!
Some very educated and bright people got so caught up in the heat of the moment and blamed Julius Malema for something that he, in all likelihood, had nothing to do with!
It turns out that Julius Malema doesn't even have a Facebook page and has never been on Facebook.
This reminds me of a similar incident that took place a number of years ago....bear with me.....
In 2006, Jacob Zuma was accused of raping a close family friend. Everyone jumped on the band-wagon and labelled him 'a rapist'. He was on trial in the media, in bars, around braais and dinner tables, in classrooms, etc. You name the place and people were talking about 'Jacob Zuma the Rapist'. My classroom was no different, except that I said, and still say, if I was accused of anything (particularly something as heinous as rape) I would want to be assumed innocent until proven guilty. This is enshrined in our Constitution and needs to be aplied to all. If that is how I want to be treated then I need to treat EVERYONE in the same way; Jacob Zuma deserved the same. He was proven not guilty, thus he is not a rapist....end of story!
To get back to my original rant: Anyone can start a Facebook page in my name and place any trash on it that they want and I cannot be held responsible. Furthermore, I would want people to do a proper investigation before making a judgement on me based on the content. If this is how I would want people to treat me then I need to treat others -no matter how high-profile or hated- in the same regard.
Julius Malema may have many faults but let's not compromise what we believe and the principles we stand for. What we want applied to ourselves we need to apply to others, no matter who they are!
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