PREMIUM!
Mngxitama warns of armed struggle if BLF are left out of elections
The IEC has received a number of submissions objecting to the party's candidate lists, while the Freedom Front Plus is fighting to have the party banned.
Andile Mngxitama with his supporters outside court. Picture: Twitter/BLF
Black First Land First leader Andile Mngxitama on Thursday threatened to start an underground armed struggle if any organisation succeeds in stopping the party from contesting the elections in May.
Mngxitama was addressing supporters outside the High Court in Johannesburg following his appearance.
This after Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) withdrew its application in the Electoral Court to deregister BLF due to “a technical reason only”. The party said it lodged an appeal with the electoral commission to stop the BLF from contesting elections.
FF Plus leader Pieter Groenewald said: “The FF Plus believes the merits of the case are strong as the Electoral Commission Act prohibits the chief electoral officer from registering a political party that excludes membership on the grounds of race, ethnicity, or skin colour.
“The FF Plus will not give up in the fight against the BLF’s racism and racial polarisation. The contempt of South Africa’s Constitution and the legislation governing elections may not be tolerated.”
However, Mngxitama said if anyone stopped his party from being a black-only party, he would start an armed struggle.
He said: “We are going to start an armed struggle should any court or anyone stop us from going to the elections. We will start an armed struggle here in this country. We have the Zimbabwean war veterans on our side, we have the veterans of MK and Azanian People’s Liberation Army (Apla) on our side, we’re going to train our people, we’ll take up arms because it will mean we have been banned again in our own country by racists who stole our land and now they’re using this very same constitution to say black people in their own country cannot have their own organisation.”
Mngxitama further claimed that the BLF was the only party that stood for black people, accusing others of having being bribed by white people.
“These political parties of yours have been bribed, they are in the pockets of white people, that’s why no change has happened in this country. BLF is going to parliament, stop us and you will see, stop us and we’ll take up arms, stop us and you will see a new revolution in this country.”
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) on Tuesday wrote to the BLF informing the party of “a number of submissions” it received objecting to its candidate lists.
Though the objectors were unknown at the moment, they were objecting to party leader Andile Mngxitama and its national spokesperson Lindsay Gerald Maasdorp on the grounds that their statements or conduct were viewed as inappropriate for people who may be voted to parliament on May 8.
Mngxitama is first on the BLF list, while Maasdorp is seventh.
Read more: IEC receives several objections to Mngxitama, Maasdorp nominations
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