Racists must be punished, Ndlozi tells SAHRC
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EFF's Mbuyiseni Ndlozi says racism in our country cannot go unpunished.
"Every time it rears its ugly head, cut it. That's the only preventive strategy. You must punish racism so that the racists always know they will be dealt with. In that way, the rest of the racists will know they don't have a space in the system of society to be racist.
Ndlozi was peaking at the South African Human Rights Commission's hearing into racism in the advertising industry - sparked by a controversial hair advertisement published by Clicks in 2020.
He said there must always be consequences for institutions where anti-black racism is deeply embedded.
The TREsemme ad described black hair as dry and damaged and white hair as normal.
READ: Agencies behind racist adverts should be held accountable, SAHRC hears
Ndlozi said an EFF-led protest against the campaign, led to some 800 Clicks stores being shut down. The party called on Unilever to change its approach to media planning.
"We needed to deal with this hair question, they have agreed it was wrong. But Unilever and Clicks are agreed that the ad was offensive. So firstly we said you remove, you apologise.
“Secondly, you show remorse for the damage in the dignity of people and you must engage in the transformation of your advertisement, expenditure and advertisement outlook. We agreed on all those grounds."
