Hate speech charge laid against Lamola

2012-07-09 12:05

Ronald Lamola. Picture: Sapa

Johannesburg - Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum on Monday said it had laid a charge of hate speech against ANC Youth League deputy president Ronald Lamola at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

"Due to the serious nature of the charge against Lamola... AfriForum decided to submit the charge directly to the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria [sitting as the Equality Court]," AfriForum's lawyer Willie Spies said in a statement.

The charge was laid with the court because it was the division where Lamola, who is a lawyer, worked.
"AfriForum issued the charge because the use of race as metaphor for the definition of inequalities in the community is extremely dangerous," said Spies.

The charge would be served on Lamola at the beginning of this week, after which he would have the opportunity to respond.

Last month, Lamola was criticised for his comments relating to land ownership. He told a media briefing in Pretoria that section 25 of the Constitution should be amended to allow for a change in land reform policy.

"The only solution is expropriation without compensation."

If white South Africans did not hand land to poor blacks, there could be land invasions like those that took place in Zimbabwe, he warned. He also reportedly said he could not guarantee the safety of "the Van Tonders and the Van der Merwes on farms".

In Durban, Lamola said: "We need an act as forceful as a war to bring it [the land] back to the Africans."
Spies said Lamola no longer spoke on behalf of the poor.

"He has now become an active instigator and champion of lawlessness and violent land-grab actions."

- SAPA