South African academic and BDS supporter investigated for stating Hitler committed “no crime”

A South African lecturer is under investigation after he declared in an online lecture that Adolf Hitler committed “no crime”.

Lwazi Lushaba, a political studies lecturer at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and a well-known supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign gave an online lecture in which he stated: “Hitler committed no crime. All Hitler did was to do to white people what white people had normally reserved for black people.”

A UCT spokesperson described Dr Lushaba’s comment as of “grave concern”, and said that UCT was “clear that all brutalities of genocide constitute both formal crimes against humanity and ongoing sources of pain” and that the university distanced itself “very strongly” from any other view.

A UCT Jewish student said that he had been deeply disturbed by Dr Lushaba’s comments, which became public on Yom Hashoah. “Hitler didn’t just persecute Jews” but also black people, Roma and disabled, pointed out the student, whose great-grandfather was murdered by the Nazis.

Another Jewish student alleged that Dr Lushaba had been “saying similarly egregious things” since gaining his doctorate in 2019, but had evaded sanctions by claiming he was a victim of “racism” or that it was a “free speech” issue. Dr Lushaba received a reprimand after allegedly becoming violent towards colleagues when his preferred candidate was not elected as dean of humanities.

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