BLF claims it’s too broke to defend itself in court

With the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Congress of the People (Cope) intending to lay charges against the leader of Black First Land First (BLF) Andile Mngxitama and the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) representing a complainant who has dragged the group to the Equality Court, the movement has reportedly said it does not have sufficient funds for legal representation.

The DA and Cope announced on Monday their intentions of laying charges against Mngxitama, which include hate speech and incitement to commit violence.

This followed Mngxitama’s utterances at the weekend in which the BLF leader threatened that he and his followers would kill white people and their pets, though he said he had meant it in self-defence.

It raised renewed calls for him to be prosecuted for hate speech.

The DA further announced that it intended to report Mngxitama to the SAHRC and the Equality Court in terms of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act.

EWN has reported that the BLF has said it does not have enough money for legal representation and that those dragging the movement to court were being opportunistic.

The deputy leader of the BLF, Zanele Lwana, was quoted as saying that legal fees were exorbitant and the group was currently overwhelmed by these anyway, with some emanating from minority rights group AfriForum’s intention to also file court papers.

“[They] want to see our movement destroyed and punished through legal costs,” Lwana was quoted as saying about AfriForum.

She reportedly further alleged that the SAHRC was being biased by representing the complainant in the hate speech matter before the Equality Court.

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