ANCYL stamps on farm attack list
2010-03-19 16:10
Johannesburg - The ANC Youth League refused to accept a memorandum from AfriForum youth in Johannesburg on Friday.
AfriForum national youth chairperson Ernst Roets said the ANC's Luthuli House headquarters was surrounded by police and they were refused entry.
"Officials and policemen told us we were not allowed there and when we informed them that we were only coming to give them a list of the farm attack victims and a memorandum, they took the list and the memo, threw it on the pavement and literally stepped on it," Roets said.
He was addressing a crowd of about 200 AfriForum supporters at Mary Fitzgerald Square.
They had had gathered there to protest against ANCYL leader Julius Malema for recently singing "kill the boer".
Slap in the face
AfriForum drew up a list of 1 600 people murdered on South African farms in recent years to show that Malema's words could have consequences.
Roets said it viewed the conduct of the ANCYL officials and the officers who stepped on the memorandum and the list, as a slap in the face.
However, he said this was not the end of the campaign and that AfriForum would see Malema in court.
ANCYL spokesperson Floyd Shivambu was not immediately available to comment.
The representatives who took the memorandum to Luthuli House included Roets, AfriForum chief executive officer Kallie Kriel and musician Steve Hofmeyr.
The crowd had dispersed by 11:30.
Malema's 'gone too far'
The memorandum is in the form of a letter addressed to ANCYL president Julius Malema.
Parts of it read: "If you are not prepared to stop with your actions, then we will have no other option than to pursue this matter through the various democratic forums that have been made available to us, which include the right to protest, and the legal system."
AfriForum youth also said freedom of expression should be cherished, but that according to the law, hate speech was unacceptable and had to be prohibited.
It said Malema had gone too far and this was the time to stop him.
It asked Malema to apologise publicly for his actions, and refrain from any practises encouraging hate and violence in South Africa.
Malema sang the song "shoot the boere" at his birthday celebration in Polokwane and at a student gathering in Johannesburg earlier in March.
A victim of farm attacks, Johan van Heerden said his grandparents were shot and killed in 1993 - just three days after the then ANCYL president Peter Mokaba sang "kill the boer, kill the farmer".
"This has to be stopped, we cannot have people making such reckless statements."
Konrad Brettschneider, 43, said his father was killed on a farm in Bela-Bela in Limpopo in 2003.
Brettschneider said three men came to their house and when his father went to investigate he was shot dead.
He said his family believed the motive was political, because nothing was taken during the incident and the perpetrators refused to tell them, even during the trial, why their father was killed.
He said the men were sentenced to 34 years in jail.
Positive speech
Brettschneider said he would like to see leaders like Malema refraining from sending negative messages to the public.
"What we need in this country is positive speech from our leaders. That is the only thing that will build this country.
"Peter Mokaba used these negative things about killing the boers and people are dying. We really need positive talk."
Hofmeyr called on the ANC and President Jacob Zuma to do "something" about Malema.
"We come in peace, it has been 15 years of speeches and talks, but white people are quiet. White people must stop being so quiet," he said.
Protesters gathered at Newtown just before 10:00 carrying posters and occasionally chanted "Stop Malema".
Their placards read: "Stop Malema", "ANC: Kill the Boer... Words can Kill", "Malema has blood on his hands" and "Malema; a champagne sipping racist".
- SAPA