‘Racist journalists not safe’

BLF leader vows to protest by any means necessary

IT WILL not respect the order of a white judge, but Black First Land First (BLF) will obey the urgent interdicts placed against the organisation by the SA National Editor’s Forum and Absa bank.

But after BLF leader Andile Mngxitama told this to a small crowd outside the High Court in Johannesburg yesterday, in the same breath he said the movement would continue to protest against “racist, white journalists” by any means necessary.

He also said unless Absa paid back the money it allegedly stole from black South Africans, they would continue with their efforts to shut down its branches.

Mngxitama’s 20-minute, contradictory diatribe to journalists outside the court touched on numerous issues, but focused little on the merits of the case in the judgments against BLF.

Both Sanef and Absa filed urgent interdict applications at the court on Thursday to prevent intimidation and potential violence against journalists and bank branches respectively.

This came after two incidents of intimidation over the past few weeks. BLF protested at the home of Tiso Blackstar Group editor Peter Bruce last month, claiming he had a racist agenda after publishing numerous exposés on the controversial Gupta family.

On Thursday, BLF shut down the Absa branch in the Johannesburg CBD, in which one employee suffered a broken hand.

Absa secured its interdict on Thursday preventing such action, with police ordered to arrest BLF members who chose not to comply with it.

Yesterday, Sanef achieved a similar order, with Judge Corrie van der Westhuizen ruling that BLF was barred from harassing journalists, protesting outside their homes, or attempting to intimidate them on social media.

Judgment

The judge also ordered BLF to issue a public statement stating it did not condone any of these acts by midnight.

“The respondents (BLF)... confirm an intention to follow the journalists even to their places of worship. Such intention cannot indicate peaceful protest. On the contrary, it is indicative of an intention to harass, intimidate and threaten… The applicants have a clear right to the protection of their bodily and physical integrity and to dignity,” Van der Westhuizen wrote in his judgment.

Just moments after the Sanef interdict was granted, BLF members who attended the proceedings and journalists who applied to the court were already engaged in a screaming match outside the courtroom.

Mngxitama seemed to have begun the altercation, accusing political analyst Karima Brown of defending a white agenda, claiming he was trying to “protect” her from “white colonists”. Brown accused the organisation of fascism, insisting they did not speak for her as a non-white woman .Sanef chairperson Mahlatse Gallens said it was up to the police to take action now, because the court had ruled the group’s ongoing behaviour did constitute intimidation.In his own response outside court, Mngxitama first took aim at Cope leader, Mosiuoa Lekota, who had come to support the application. Labelling Lekota an “irrelevant house negro”, he said the politician was aiming to create “black-on-black violence”.

Regarding the application, Mngxitama insisted that the courts were also part of a white legacy, therefore BLF had no respect for Roman-Dutch law. However, he did not explain why the organisation was considering appealing against the interdicts under the same system, though he did say he would insist that a black judge hear the case. According to provincial police spokesperson, Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini, if the organisation did not obey the interdict, any members involved would be found in contempt of court. “A case would be opened, and an investigation would run as usual,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sanef media freedom chairperson Sam Mkokeli said the organisation was confident in the ruling, which protected the rule of law and the constitution.

“It’s up to the police to respond in the event of any intimidation,” he said.