UK politician in hot water for giving a speech to pro-apartheid club

Concerns have been raised in Britain after an MEP for the UK Independence Party (UKIP) was revealed to have addressed The Springbok Club in London. The group are an extreme far-right organisation that fly the old apartheid flag, call Nelson Mandela a terrorist, and perpetuate the white genocide myth. You know the type

Stuart Agnew has spent five years representing UKIP, who are currently shifting further towards hard-right politics. Even Nigel Farage has washed his hands of the party, and when you're too racist for that bloke, something seriously sinister is bubbling under the surface.

As The Guardian report, Agnew gave a speech at one of the club's meetings on 6 April. It's understood he spoke about the rule of Ian Smith Zimbabwe's last white leader and his own experiences with South Africa, which included a trip to Parliament in Cape Town a few years ago.

Who are The Springbok Club? You can learn a lot about The Springbok Club just by visiting their website. The homepage is as outdated as their value-set and features tabs dedicated to denouncing Madiba and ramblings about farm attacks in South Africa. The barrage of poorly-spaced, hardly-edited text is visually jarring.

The club surfaced at some point in the late 1990s and maintain they are concerned with the situation in Mzansi. However, they'd be better off getting their own house in order first. They may be adamant that Mandela is a terrorist, but this group could have been responsible for producing one.

Thomas Mair the far-right extremist who murdered MP Jo Cox in 2016 was a subscriber to The Springbok Club's SA Patriot newsletter before he killed the politician based in Leeds.

Stuart Agnew explains his endorsement for pro-apartheid club Agnew has offered a rather feeble defence of his appearance, claiming that he will speak to any audience regardless of who they are. He also told the publication that there were merits for the case of building a homeland in Africa specifically for white South Africans.

David Lawrence, a researcher from Hope Not Hate, lambasted the UKIP member's decision to legitimise the group:

Ukip's continued drift further and further far right is no longer a surprise but it is still shocking. The fact that an elected MEP is addressing this sort of vile, pro-apartheid organisation shows the scale of the challenge we face.

David Lawrence The Springbok Club have established branches in London, Kent and Northern Ireland and claim to have a presence in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the United States and Scandinavia. Thankfully, no politicians from these other countries have shown such support.

Tags: apartheidPoliticsracismSouth AfricaUnited Kingdom

LINK:	https://www.thesouthafrican.com/uk-politician-in-hot-water-for-giving-...
	See more stories from thesouthafrican

More from The South African