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Durban – A KwaZulu-Natal based radio presenter said she was reeling after interviewing Sodwana Bay Guest House owner, Andre Slade on Thursday afternoon.
“I knew that there was hatred but I did not know that someone could hate you so deeply because of the colour of your skin. It’s shocking,” said Vuma FM presenter Jacinta Ngobese, 28 - who is herself black - of her interview with Slade during her lunch time radio show, The Brunch.
Slade was interviewed during the show, which aired between 09:00 and 12:00 on Thursday.
Slade made headlines on Thursday after an e-mail he sent to a would-be visitor to Sodwana Bay Guest House in northern KwaZulu-Natal, went viral. The e-mail read, “Hi. We do not accommodate blacks or government officials any longer.”
- Read more: KZN guesthouse: We do not accommodate blacks or government employees any longer
The e-mail was reportedly signed Enki Andre M Slade, with the postscript Proverbs 29:2, which read: “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn”.
In the 19-minute radio interview, Ngobese called the guesthouse and asked to speak to Slade. The woman who answered asked her if she was from the media.
Ngobese said no.
When Slade answered the phone he realised that he was speaking to the media.
Ngobese asked Slade if she could book accommodation for next week and Slade responded by saying, “No you won’t be able to because you are phoning about a statement I made last night and it is now world news.
“We have not had any phone calls for a long time and then in one day we have so many blacks phoning for accommodation.”
'You are not homosapien'
Slade then asked Ngobese if she was black and she asked him why did the colour of her skin matter.
He responded by saying he was asking because the guesthouse did not accommodate black people.
When she asked him what was wrong with black people he said, “Well, we have to restore what is happening in the world right now and the hierarchy of the world is wrong at this point in time.”
He said black people were servants and the Bible made it very clear.
When asked which Bible he was referring to, he said the King James Bible.
Slade told Ngobese that his Bible said he could not mix with another race.
“We do not have the same blood, skin, hair and there is about 300 differences between you and me,” he said.
Slade said he had melanin because he was royal and Ngobese was short of it because she was an animal.
“You are classified in the Bible as an animal, you are not homosapien.”
Slade said if Ngobese was intelligent, she should go and read the book [Bible].
“Most of the times that we get blacks walking through these doors, they bring prostitutes here and they fuck all night in their rooms and make me feel uncomfortable.
“They bring booze here and sit and get drunk and break things…And when my maid has left, they come to me and demand things. They ask me to clean their bedrooms…”
He said white people did not behave that way.
“I have never had this problem with white people,” said Slade.
He said black people were “not people”.
Saddened
The presenter then offered Slade an opportunity to spend a week with her and other black people but he referred her to a woman called Katalina.
Ngobese said afterwards, “I was saddened by how much hatred he has for black people. I feel like he needs help. He is oblivious to reality and he is clearly naïve about black people.”
Ngobese said not all black people behaved the way Slade had described.
“I am traumatised by the interview. I would be interested, and hope others will join me, in teaching him about black people and what it feels like to be treated like nothing.
“Maybe then he will understand that he is wrong,” she said.
KwaZulu-Natal Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs MEC Sihle Zikalala said he was investigating the matter.
Listen to the interview here:
