Pretoria - The Economic Freedom Fighters party and its leader, Julius Malema, were on Tuesday interdicted from inciting EFF members or any member of the public to deface monuments and statues across the country which relate to the Afrikaner heritage and culture.
Judge Eben Jordaan, sitting in the High Court in Pretoria, granted the order sought by the Solidarity Movement Trust – a group which has the interests of the Afrikaner at heart.
The trust launched the urgent court proceedings about a week ago, when it served court papers on Malema and the EFF, alerting them that the application will serve before court on Tuesday.
No council for the EFF pitched at court and Judge Jordaan was told that neither the party nor its leader filed any papers to oppose the application.
Advocate Francois Botes, acting for the trust, said they will, however, ensure that the court order is served on the party and its leadership, as to avoid them saying at a later stage they did not know about the order.
The application came in the wake of several Afrikaner monuments and statues being vandalised and defaced across the country. This included the statue of Paul Kruger on Church Square in Pretoria which was painted green.
The trust said the application was about protecting the cultural heritage of the Afrikaner. The trust expressed its concern about the EFF leadership inciting its members to deface the statues.
Judge Jordaan, in making the order, commented that it was in any case a crime to vandalise and deface statues.
While various members of the EFF were spotted in court on Monday - attending various cases such as a land invasion application relating to Soshanguve and another case pertaining to evictions in Pretoria North - they seemed oblivious of the urgent application relating to the statues against them.
Pretoria News