'It's a betrayal': MK Party opens treason case against AfriForum

The MK Party opened a case of treason against AfriForum on Monday as the lobby group faces a mounting backlash over “spreading misinformation” about land and race policies resulting in US President Donald Trump cutting off aid to South Africa.

MK Party supporters in military fatigues sang and clapped outside Cape Town central police station as party deputy leader John Hlophe and MP Mzwanele Manyi made their way inside.

Hlophe said afterwards the party “vehemently condemns the treasonous actions of AfriForum which has deliberately lobbied foreign powers to act against the sovereignty and economic interests of South Africa”. This “betrayal”, he added, was “nothing less than an act of economic sabotage, a direct assault on our nation's independence and a dangerous attempt to undermine the will of the people”.

Trump cut off aid to the country after threatening to do so in a social media post, claiming “certain classes of people” in South Africa were being treated “very badly”. He also issued an executive order offering refugee status to Afrikaners.

The Sunday Times reported that cutting off aid was also motivated by South Africa’s genocide case against Israel and its close relationship with Iran.

The peninsula region of the South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) said it would lay treason charges against the lobby group on Wednesday, calling for a “full investigation” into its activities.

Khayelitsha community member Eric Kweleta accused AfriForum of “treasonous conduct” and lodged a criminal complaint against it on Sunday at the Lingelethu West police station in Cape Town. 

The move was applauded by the ANC in the Western Cape which said organisations such as AfriForum, “backed by foreign interests, have engaged in misinformation campaigns, attempted to delegitimise the government of national unity and fuelled racial tensions. Their actions violate key South African laws”.

Sanco's peninsula region called for a “full investigation” and potential revocation of AfriForum's NPO status.

AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel said at the weekend President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC were to blame for the Trump order. 

“This is a crisis and we tried to avert this crisis. In April last year we wrote a letter to Ramaphosa urging him not to sign the Expropriation Bill, saying what we believe the problems in the bill were,” Kriel said. 

“If you believe these problems to be fabricated, go and look at section 12(3) of the act, which allows expropriation with no compensation. We also stated in the letter this will harm our international relations and investments in the country,” reported the Sunday Times.

TimesLIVE