Cape Town - With 16 days to the 2024 general elections, the Patriotic Alliance (PA) is staking its claim on, particularly, the coloured vote in the Western Cape.
On Saturday, the party bused in supporters from across the province to fill up the Athlone Stadium, with more than 20,000 going through the turnstiles.
Outside, pro-Palestinian supporters picketed, specifically against PA leader Gayton McKenzie’s recent statements in support of Israel.
Youth for Al-Quds said McKenzie has made statements that angered their movement.
“He said there was not genocide, they are going to hunt down Hamas, we are all Hamas, when we fought for freedom in South Africa, the ANC was told they were terrorists too.
“We want him to come to the streets of the Cape Flats and we are ready for him, he wants to kill us and we want him to know that we are ready.
“This is not about religion because we have Jewish brothers fighting with us and Christians fighting for the liberation of Palestine,” said one member.
During his speech, McKenzie apologised to his Muslim supporters inside the stadium.
“The Muslims that were at the stadium were insulted by the Muslims outside. I apologised for the ordeal that they went through. So when I stopped, they (demonstrators) were standing there swearing at my mother.
“They bully people, they’re not going to get that right with me.
“If you are unhappy about something, go and picket on your own.
“There is not a Muslim that will tell me not to follow what the Bible tells me, never, not me! My Bible says if you curse Israel, you curse yourself. I’m not this pap Christian. I don’t get bullied and I don’t bully people.
“I have nothing against Palestine, but I’m not going to say from the river to the sea.”
He said South Africa is not yet free but people wanted other countries to be freed.
“We are not even free yet here, but you want to free Palestine. We don’t even have electricity, there’s more electricity in Palestine than here. People want to be nice and politically correct. Don’t vote for me then.
“A death is a death, we cry for Palestinian children, we cry for Israeli children but I can’t tell them not to listen to Prophet Muhammed so why are they telling me not to listen to God?”
McKenzie told his supporters that when he gets into power, he plans on deporting illegal foreigners en masse as a way to create employment.
“South Africa is sitting on 6 000 unused mines, we will reopen those mines, we are going to rehabilitate those mines and create jobs. On June 1 they are leaving, they are selling expired food, and drugs to our children. You can give millions of people jobs in those mines.
“We’ve got about 11 million illegal foreigners in this country and six million of them are working. We can create six million jobs just by mass deporting them. We are going to build a wall, it’s going to cost about R1.2 trillion and that is a 15-year project that is going to give a lot of people work and we are going to bring conscription back.”
On the issue of crime, he said he believed in the death penalty.
Deputy president Kenny Kunene said they would bring “God back into schools”.
“When you bring God back into schools, you bring it back into the community. The ANC took God out of schools in 1994 and left the devil. That is why children throw chairs and bottles at teachers,” he said.
At the end of the rally, a bus caught on fire but the police insisted it was an isolated incident.
Police spokesperson Malcolm Pojie, said Athlone detectives opened a malicious damage to property case.
“The incident did not occur near any protest actions or other gathering in the area. The cause of the fire is still to be determined,” he said.
PA spokesperson Steve Motale said they received reports about the bus.
“We received a report of a bus burning in the vicinity of the stadium. However, we contacted police who are busy going through CCTV footage. But preliminary reports indicate that the affected bus was not hired to transport any PA members. But we are waiting for a full report from the police.”