Afrikaner politician Dan Roodt blasted over dead pilot tweets

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Afrikaner activist, author, and right-wing political party leader Dan Roodt has been condemned for his tweets about veteran pilot James O’Connell,l who died from a plane crash at the West Coast Air Show in Saldanha Bay over the weekend.

In a viral clip, O’Connell’s Impala MK1 jet crashed after a sudden loss of altitude.

Roodt compared the respected pilot’s crash to “race-based laws.” He also sensationally claimed that the pilot had “ingested a bird.”

AFRIKANER POLITICIAN DAN ROODT DRAGGED OVER TWEETS ABOUT DEAD PILOT

While tributes have been flooding in for pilot James O’Connell, who had a 40-year career with the SA Air Force – one tweep stood out for his controversial tweets about the tragedy.

Incorrectly assuming the pilot’s race, the Front Nasionaal party leader implied that the pilot was unfit for the job.

He tweeted on Saturday, 22 March: “A South African Airforce Impala crashed at the Saldanha Air Show today. As ever, one wonders if whether the pilot was appointed on merit or whether the 142 race laws against white people played a role?”

In another shocking tweet, Dan Roodt tweeted his assumptions about what went wrong before the air crash.

He tweeted, “So the unfortunate pilot of the crashed pilot was apparently James O’Connell, an experienced private test pilot who might have ingested a bird or possibly had a heart attack.”

Although Roodt deleted his tweets, he quickly became a trending topic, with many South Africans accusing him of “racism.”

@RainbowNationW: “Unfortunately, Dan, you missed this one. The pilot was actually white; his name was James O’Connell. Do you still wonder if he was appointed by merit? Or are you just purely racist?”

@khayadlanga: “Why would you use the death of someone as an opportunity for race-baiting? Why in God’s name would you even make this assumption?”

@SimonPGrindrod: “Even in a fatal tragedy, this mentality shows disrespect. Disgraceful. May the pilot RIP. Condolences to the family of the deceased, friends & colleagues”.

Outspoken muso The Kiffness also criticised Dan Roodt’s tweets, posting: “Disrespectful to qualified black pilots & disrespectful to the deceased”.

The pilot was a white male. May he RIP 🙏🏼❤️

Disrespectful to qualified black pilots & disrespectful to the deceased.

— The Kiffness (@TheKiffness) March 22, 2025

SORRY, NOT SORRY?

With a firestorm over his tweets, Dan Roodt responded with an “apology.” In it, he blamed a major news outlet for misinforming him.

Seemingly defending his tweets, he posted: “It wasn’t race-baiting. It just looked so incongruous that the only immediate explanation that I could think of was that he or she may have been simply appointed on racial grounds, as happens in so many other professions in SA.

“We know that the state normally discriminates against white people, so that could have explained why there might have been a lack of expertise on the part of the pilot. This was a “false positive,” for which I apologise as my information was wrong, but it does not detract from the thousands of other cases where accidents do happen because of affirmative action.

He brazenly added: “Of course, I am saddened by his death, as I would be by the death of any pilot, qualified or less qualified. However, as I have ventured to explain in a longer comment on my X page, there is a HOLOCAUST OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND DEI IN SOUTH AFRICA. No one cares about that, but we must start caring now; otherwise, this country will completely collapse”.

It wasn’t race baiting. It just looked so incongruous that the only immediate explanation that I could think of was that he or she may have been simply appointed on racial grounds, as happens in so many other professions in SA. Also, I thought it was an Airforce and not a private…

— Dan Roodt (@danroodt) March 23, 2025