Johannesburg - Another organisation has announced it intends to take legal action against the Black First Land First movement for calling upon its supporters and the public to illegally occupy vacant land.
Afribusiness on Tuesday said it was exploring legal options to obtain an interdict against BLF, its founder Andile Mngxitama as well as its national chairperson Lindsay Maasdorp over the recent utterances.
This after the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) filed an urgent application against the movement and Mngxitama at the High Court in Johannesburg following intimidatory acts against journalists reporting on state capture.
Sanef, in court papers filed, asked the court to interdict BLF and Mngxitama from harassing, intimidating, assaulting and threatening 11 senior journalists, editors and commentators that have been targeted for their reporting on state capture.
Afribusiness in a statement said it could not sit back and overlook the BLF's comments on the issue in the past few months.
READ MORE: Mngxitama takes jibe at journo despite interdict application
“We cannot sit back and let these comments and calls to action be overlooked. As we have done with Julius Malema and the EFF, we will approach a court of law for a similar interdict against Mngxitama, Maasdorp and the BLF. Mngxitama and Maasdorp should be held personally responsible for inciting people to commit such crimes,” said Law and Policy analyst at AfriBusiness Armand Greyling.
Afribusiness slammed BLF for attacks launched against journalists, saying it was not an organisation founded on the principles of democracy, but rather on violence and intimidation.
“The BLF’s actions amount to nothing more than criminal acts and should be dealt with accordingly."