BLF leader Andile Mngxitama has blamed ‘white people’ for causing an earthquake that struck Johannesburg on Sunday morning.
Images via Twitter: @Mngxitama2/ Pixabay, Angelo_Giordano
‘I blame white man for earthquake’: BLF head dragged over tweet
BLF president president Andile Mngxitama has been criticised for his racially-charged tweet about Sunday’s earthquake.
BLF leader Andile Mngxitama has blamed ‘white people’ for causing an earthquake that struck Johannesburg on Sunday morning.
Images via Twitter: @Mngxitama2/ Pixabay, Angelo_Giordano
Black First, Land First (BLF) president Andile Mngxitama has courted controversy again over his racially charged comments – this time over the earthquake that hit Johannesburg on Sunday morning.
The outspoken politician went as far as to claim that the natural disaster resulted from the “white man” in the country.
According to a statement by South Africa’s Council for Geoscience (CGS), the quake’s epicentre was located in the Boksburg area, registering a magnitude of 4.7.
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BLF LEADER BLAMES EARTHQUAKE ON WHITE PEOPLE
Just hours after the earthquake left South Africans reeling in fear, Andile Mngxitama tweeted his controversial views.
He posted: “I blame the white man for the earthquake. Their greed has hallowed out the belly of the earth, mining our mineral wealth. The entire Gauteng is at risk of these occurrences. They aren’t natural. They are man-made”.
He added: “Oppenheimer and others must pay the ecological reparations to blacks”.
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TWEEPS CLAP BACK
Following the bombshell tweet, many social media users clapped back at the BLF’s attempt at racial propaganda. Others dragged him for his “lack of knowledge” of natural disasters.
@SimonkaNdaba1: “Who needs comedy shows when we have this on Twitter? I am in stitches.”
@marduk_aza: “Andile thinks earthquakes don’t have a natural cause…I hope his thinking improves…Reading helps”
@barry_niekerk: “If you bothered to do your homework, you would know it started 10km below the surface… No mines that deep. And earthquakes have been part of the earth’s movements since they originated many, many, many years ago… Who do you blame for the earthquakes under the sea, btw..?”
@sebate15: “Leadership, I’m no expert on plate tectonics, but do you think we will be pushing it too far if we blame the white man for the Tsunamis too? We can’t put it past the white man to hollow out seabeds too”.
— Mpho (@ssbl369j) June 11, 2023
DID MINING CAUSE THE EARTHQUAKE?
While Andile’s tweets were likely geared at stirring racial tensions, there could be some truth to his claims about mining and earthquakes, claim experts.
According to the CGS, the earthquake’s epicentre “was located in the Boksburg area a few kilometres outside East Rand Proprietary Mine, in the East Rand of Johannesburg.”
According to TimesLive, CGS is looking into claims that mining may have contributed to the earthquake.
Spokesperson Mahlatse Mononela said: “But given its shallow depth, it might be mining-related seismicity or due to fluctuations in groundwater levels. This said, the CGS is investigating this further.”
