AfriForum today was in the equality court in Johannesburg in the civil rights organisation’s hate speech case against Black First Land First (BLF) and the organisation’s leader, Andile Mngxitama. The case was postponed indefinitely because proceedings could not be completed today. The court will soon determine a court date.
The case started today with footage of Mngxitama’s speech, as well as a video of a farm attack victim telling her story. Ernst Roets, AfriForum’s head of policy and action, then started giving evidence as expert witness in court.
“According to AfriForum this is a clear-cut example of hate speech. While an organisation such as BLF’s support is negligible, it is important to send a message that people who regard themselves as above the law cannot get away with this kind of statements,” Roets said.
AfriForum laid charges against Mngxitama in December 2018 after he had incited killing white people and encouraged farm attacks during a speech in Potchefstroom.
“We’ll kill their children. We’ll kill their women. We’ll kill anything that we find on our way… We’ll kill their dogs. We’ll kill their cats. We’ll kill anything that comes before us,” is what Mngxitama said, among other things. He said his organisation would kill five white people every time a black person is killed in South Africa. Mngxitama also said his organisation was mobilising 50 000 soldiers for this purpose.