South African Political Party Condemns Anti-semitic Statement

The Platteland General Council (representing rural areas) of the United Party in the Transvaal has adopted a resolution condemning the anti-Semitic remarks of Jack Dormehl, a member of the party’s Transvaal Head Committee, and calling on the party’s Executive Committee to take disciplinary action against him.

The resolution followed the disclosure of the recent incident in which Dormehl, who opposed Harry Schwarz’s election as the Transvaal leader of the party, South Africa’s chief opposition party, confronted him in a lavatory and asked him to withdraw from the Transvaal leadership, saying that a “Jewboy” should not be a party leader.

The statement was made in the presence of party leader Sir de Villiers Graaff and party secretary Major Opperman. Following disclosures in the press, Dormehl denied he used the epithet “Jewboy” in the derogatory manner implied, but confirmed expressing the view that a Jew should not hold the leadership position.

The Council adopted a resolution supporting Schwarz and affirming that it “dissociated itself entirely” from Dormehl’s “racialistic attacks.” The resolution added that “the Platteland Council emphasizes that it is a fundamental principle of United Party policy to acknowledge and respect the cultural and spiritual heritage of every group in South Africa,” and while it had no jurisdiction over Dormehl, it requested the Transvaal Executive Committee to take the necessary disciplinary action.

In an interview published this month in the Johannesburg “Sunday Express,” Dormehl was quoted as saying: “I am not anti-Semitic, but the Jews have a strangle hold on the party in the Transvaal and the United Party is suffering because of it.” He repeated his intention of trying to get Sohwarz to withdraw from the leadership and said Schwarz “was trying to push Jews into high positions in the party at the expense of Gentile members.”