ANC’s Tony Yengeni says BLF just got another ‘guaranteed’ 100,000 votes

In a tweet on Tuesday, ANC national executive committee member Tony Yengeni, a strong proponent of land expropriation without compensation, appeared to throw his support behind the political rhetoric of Black First Land First (BLF), who were yesterday found guilty of hate speech.

They were directed to apologise to all South Africans for their slogan “Land or Death”.

However, Yengeni said this morning on Twitter that the court had merely ensured more publicity for the fledgling party, in effect “guaranteeing” them more seats in parliament.

After declaring that the “elite” needed to understand the land issue was “highly emotional”, the former ANC MP then in effect repeated a phrase similar to the one that could see the BLF slapped with possible criminal charges of hate speech when he wrote: “Victory or death!”

The BLF was yesterday given a month to remove its “Land or Death” slogan from its regalia, social media platforms and website, and also to tender its apology in writing to all South Africans within the same period. The apology would be published on the SA Human Rights Commission website.

“The clerk of the Equality Court was directed to send a copy of the judgment to the director of public prosecutions for possible institution of criminal proceedings against the party and its leaders,” said attorney at the commission Buang Jones‏ on Twitter following the ruling.

In response, the BLF’s spokesperson Lindsay Maasdorp, however, said they still considered the ruling a victory because they would be remaining on the ballot.

They pointed out that the application to deregister the BLF as a political party had failed.

They added: “BLF will not apologise. We will instead appeal the ruling. This ruling is nonsensical and shows the backwardness of the magistrate courts. The Constitutional Court has ruled on what hate speech is. The magistrate erred in finding our slogan hate speech. Strange enough, the court found ‘one settler one bullet’ to be historical and therefore not hate speech.

“The court ruling is an overall victory for BLF because the application failed to stop BLF from being deregistered with the Independent Electoral Commission and thereby being stopped to participate in the elections. Land thieves failed to stop BLF from being in the elections. This is victory!”

Shortly after the ruling, BLF leader Andile Mngxitama appeared on eNCA wearing a shirt with the ‘Land or Death’ slogan prominently emblazoned on the front.

He reiterated that black people should remain prepared to die for land in South Africa.

(Edited by Charles Cilliers)

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