Limpho Hani, the widow of slain SACP leader Chris Hani, has lashed out at Nicole Barlow, labeling her a ‘racist liar’.
Limpho was responding to claims by Barlow that she had written the Hani family a letter of apology following her offensive tweet at the weekend in which she wrote, they missed an opportunity to “do a Chris Hani” on energy and mineral resource minister Gwede Mantashe, who was in Boksburg at the time. Chris Hani lived in Dawn Park in Boksburg, in Ekurhuleni, when he was gunned down on April 10 1993.
Barlow on Sunday caused controversy on Twitter with a comment she made on a story by SowetanLIVE's sister publication, the Sunday Times, about Mantashe ditching President Cyril Ramaphosa’s event to attend a Cosatu event in Boksburg instead.
Barlow’s remarks enraged many people on social media, who accused her of being a racist who wanted Mantashe to be killed. Using her social media account, on Monday Barlow attempted to explain why she made the remark and this was followed by an apology issued to the Hani family.
“We have vastly different experiences of the same country. Yours, and that of your family, would’ve been moulded by living under the oppressive yoke and mine has been moulded by living under the vengeful malevolence of the ANC,” read the letter in parts.
Yesterday, Limpho told Sowetan that Barlow was disingenuous in her apology.
“She never sent a letter of apology. I don’t give racists airtime. She is a racist liar. Tell her to go to hell and f***k off. Bloody racist. Apology on social media, nxa!”
The South African Human Rights Commission said this week that it was investigating Barlow.
Spokesperson Wisani Baloyi said they were assessing the case and the outcome would determine their next step.
Earlier in the week the South African Communist Party (SACP) said it would be laying a charge of incitement to commit violence against Barlow.
SACP general-secretary Solly Mapaila said: “Given what happened to Chris Hani, we cannot take the utterances lightly.
“Nicole Barlow implicated herself in what happened to Chris Hani, the SACP general-secretary who was assassinated in cold blood on April 10 1993. This also suggests they, the ‘We…’ in her tweet, ’… missed an opportunity to do’ the same on Mantashe,” Mapaila added.
