AfriForum Youth will lay hate speech charges against ANC Youth League deputy president, Ronald Lamola, it said on Friday.
The move followed Lamola's refusal to apologise for his recent statements about the safety of farmers, and indicated he had no intention to stop with these statements, chairman Charl Oberholzer said.
“The ANCYL made it clear that they are not prepared to apologise, or to give an undertaking to cease statements that incite racial hatred.”
He said they would now proceed with a charge of hate speech in the Equality Court against Lamola.
On June 05, Lamola said the Constitution must be changed to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation. He warned that if white South Africans did not hand land to poor blacks, there could be land invasions like those that took place in Zimbabwe.
He specifically referred to, amongst others, “the Van Tonders and the Van der Merwes on farms” and warned their safety could not be guaranteed.
The two youth movements met on Friday, at ANC headquarters Luthuli House in Johannesburg. The purpose of the meeting was to begin talks precipitated by the ANCYL's continuing call for expropriation of land without compensation.
Oberholzer said at the meeting, they highlighted to the ANCYL that its views on land reform were based on a gross misrepresentation of history, and that the debate should shift to one which sought the truth about the history of land, before assuming positions on land reform.
“The ANCYL's approach is not to promote land reform based on fact, but to transfer land from white to black. Therefore, its point of departure is purely racial.”
He said they got the impression the league was indifferent about the brutality and high number of farm murders.
AfriForum Youth also handed copies of the book, “Land of Sorrow”, to the ANCYL. The book contains information on 1445 farmers killed on farms during the past 20 years. - Sapa