EFF may be sued for damages, say experts

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and its leader, Julius Malema, could face civil damages should health and beauty retailer Clicks press for charges after what began as a protest yesterday descended into the trashing and petrol-bombing of some stores.

The EFF’s countrywide demonstrations followed the furore over last week’s advert published on the company website, which labelled black hair as “frizzy and dull” and white hair as “normal, fine, flat”.

Former public protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela, who is law faculty chair at the University of Stellenbosch, said while she fought against all forms of racism, she disagreed with the tactics employed by Malema and his party in dealing with Clicks on the racially divisive advert.

“The Clicks matter is a human rights issue, because it is about human dignity of blacks in general and black women, in particular, that has been violated, which could have been taken to the Equality Court,” she said.

“What concerns me is the language used by EFF leader Julius Malema on the eve of the protest. He should have foreseen that his message was going to cause people to think that he was asking them to go and attack Clicks stores. He was saying if Clicks did not close the shops on their own, EFF would force them to close.

“People would think forced closure meant petrol-bombing – opening themselves up for civil damages. The hair issue is about race and it concerns me that little soldiers are being sacrificed as pawns and cannon fodder, when there are ways of handling matters other than violence.

“People that trashed the stores now face a prospect of going to jail if arrested and charged. They will end up with a criminal record and may not find a job easily. This is what happened to some university students during the #FeesMustFall protests, when a violent element infiltrated what was a legitimate protest.”

Accountability Now executive director Advocate Paul Hoffman said if Clicks were to prove that the trashing and petrol bombing was “orchestrated or incited by the EFF, then they do have a cause of action for damages suffered”.

“Taking the law into your own hands is illegal, with those involved in the petrol-bombing and looting, guilty of a crime,” said Hoffman.

“The role of the EFF in this hinges on whether you can factually link its incitement of the occurrence in terms of damage or loss of stock.”

Professor Dirk Kotze, political lecturer at the University of SA, said government was politically hamstrung in dealing with the EFF-orchestrated protest.

“While the EFF action is very dangerous, creating a bad precedent of government’s inability to intervene in violent situations, government – and by implication the ANC – are cautious not to act against the EFF too directly, because that may be construed as a political action,” said Kotze.

– brians@citizen.co.za

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.