Kebby Maphatsoe, chairman of the MKMVA, says in a statement the uMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association would like to reject with scorn the unconstitutional objections to the cabinet recommendation for the appointment of Robert McBride as the head of Independent Police Investigation Directorate. The objections “smack of racial arrogance and vindictiveness”.
We publish the rest of Kebby’s statement unedited (that means the spelling mistakes remains in as well): “Cde Robert McBride was sentenced to death by the apartheid court for his actions as a soldier of MK, in a just war against an unjust apartheid regime, which upheld the apartheid system, which was declared a crime against humanity. He was released in 1992, through negotiations that led to the democratization of our country.
Since then, his name has been dragged into negative headlines of the South African media, in what seems to have been an orchestrated ploy to vilify him at every hop and turn. It is now clear that this strategy of vilification was a deliberate attempt to harm his personality and destroy his credibility.
The urge for racial vengeance by the white opposition, its civil society grouping made of former apartheid security agencies officials and intellectuals, seems to be behind this frenzy of unconstitutional objections. It is clear that contrary to the spirit of reconciliation and the upholding of the rule of law in our society, these groupings stand to betray the spirit of the Constitution of the Republic, through their racist posture.
Comrade Robert McBride has no criminal record to his name, and is appropriately qualified for the position. This was also echoed by his former lectutrer, General Johan Burger who himself is a former apartheid police official. However, he unethically made utterances as his former lecturer that exposes not only his prejudices, but tells of a conspiracy to besmirch the name of Robert McBride.
Just like the white political parties and a handful of confused black parliamentary opposition, they make baseless charges to cast aspersion on the integrity of Cde McBride. Some are so reckless and libelous such that they can actually form the basis for criminal charges.
MKMVA stands by Cde Robert McBride, and we pledge to support him in his constitutional right to be appointed as head of IPID.”
