Cape Town - The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has given the EFF and its leader Julius Malema 10 days to apologise for statements made, as well as posters displayed at the EFF’s Provincial People’s Assembly or it would go to the Equality Court to seek relief.
The SAHRC said it had received numerous complaints relating to statements made by Malema as well as posters/banners displayed by the party at the meeting of the EFF’s Provincial People’s Assembly in the province on October 16, 2022.
According to the complaints received and corroborated by video recordings of the event, Malema made comments including, in reference to an incident at the Brackenfell High School last year, and a white person “beating up” an EFF member.
Malema questioned why that (white) person had not been located and taken to “an isolated space and attended to properly”, and telling members that “you must never be scared to kill, a revolution demands that at some point there must be killing, because the killing is part of a revolutionary act”.
Other comments include, “anything that stands in the way of the revolution must be eliminated”.
The commission also noted posters/banners brandished at the event by EFF members, and printed with EFF insignia with the messages: “Honeymoon is over for white people in South Africa”; and “A revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate”.
“The commission has given Malema and the EFF written notice that if they do not, within 10 days hereof, appropriately retract and apologise for the prima facie unlawful statements in question and give appropriate undertakings to desist from further promotion of hatred and violence on any ground, the commission will proceed to the Equality Court for appropriate interim interdictory relief.”
The EFF meanwhile said the commission had “incorrectly and ignorantly” labelled the comments as incitement to violence and hate speech, revealing a “failure of appreciating political commentary in its metaphorical, literary and historical sense”.
The party said it was “unfortunate” that an institution like the SAHRC approached political commentary “without an appreciation of literature and historical facts”.
“The EFF wishes to state categorically that the SAHRC is pursuing and entering a path of frivolous litigation which is similar to that of AfriForum,” the EFF said.
It said the SAHRC had reached findings on the matter without affording them an opportunity to present their side of the story.
“Laws of natural justice demand that institutions like the commission must hear both sides before making a determination. We will therefore not meet the 10-day deadline or apologise, until we are listened to by a neutral body,” the party said.
Cape Times