Animal Rights Africa (ARA) viewed the Zulu people as ‘barbaricâ€, a representative of the KwaZulu-Natal premier’s office said on Tuesday.
Sipho Mdhluli from Premier Zweli Mkhize’s office accused ARA of trying to impose its views on Zulus during the recent annual umkhosi wokweshwama bull-slaying ceremony.
President Jacob Zuma was a guest at the ceremony where Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini watched as about 30 warriors caught and wrestled a bull to the ground and smothered it with their bare hands at the Enyokeni royal palace in KwaZulu-Natal.
The Pietermaritzburg High Court ruled earlier this month that Zulus could go ahead with the ceremony after ARA sought to interdict the Zulu king, Mkhize and three government departments from going ahead with the ritual.
”Without saying so, they were virtually saying that these people are barbaric. I cannot run away from that, but that is the approach that I got from the ARA,†said Mdhluli.
He was speaking at the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL) discussion on tension between culture and human rights in a democratic South Africa in Rosebank, Johannesburg.
He called the ARA’s attitude sanctimonious and pious.
”Rightly or wrongly, I believe they do not show any respect for the rights of others,” said Mdhluli after declining at first to take part in the discussions.
”Even if they intended to persuade people to change their outlook in life regarding animals, the way that they went about it was incorrect.”
He said they disregarded protocol in ”demanding” to see the king.
He said if you wanted to change people’s views, you must engage with people.
”You cannot impose your views,†he said.
”In whatever we do we should have respect for one another’s cultural rights.
”We should begin to understand each other, which unfortunately is not happening in the current South Africa,†he said.
Steve Smith from ARA — who also initially refrained from speaking about the incident — responded by saying that the biggest issue was that ARA were told that they had no right to question someone’s culture.
”We need to discuss and debate cultural practices. Nothing should be taboo,” he said.
The discussion was attended by several community and religious representatives. — Sapa