AfriForum accuses Malema of encouraging trespassing

Rights group AfriForum has accused Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema of inciting acts of trespassing after he encouraged his followers at the party’s birthday in Durban the past weekend to grab vacant land.

On Tuesday the organisation laid criminal charges of incitement to trespassing against Malema at the Lyttelton police station in Centurion.

According to media reports‚ Malema took the following stand in his speech: “If you don’t have a piece of land you are a coward. Go and identify a piece of land anywhere you like. That is your land. In my ward in Seshego we did that. The owner came and said he had been listening and we could take half. If you don’t listen‚ you will lose the whole land. White land owners must share land.”

Ernst Roets‚ deputy CEO of AfriForum‚ said Malema was one of the country’s most influential politicians and that incitement to crime by such a political figure should be addressed with the necessary gravity.

“We expect the Police to investigate the case thoroughly and that the prosecuting authority will take the necessary steps in this regard.”

The organisation has laid similar charges against Malema in the past.

In November 2016‚ the organisation instructed its legal team to investigate different options to react to statements made by Malema outside the Magistrate’s Court in Newcastle‚ KwaZulu-Natal.

The AfriForum acquired a court interdict against the EFF and Malema to prevent them from initiating illegal land grabs countrywide in April this year.