AfriForum laid a criminal charge against ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema on Thursday for reportedly encouraging people to take land without permission.
The charge of incitement to sedition, with case number 612/10/2011, was laid at the Wierdabrug police station in Centurion, said AfriForum deputy CEO Ernst Roets.
“It will be transferred to the Thembelihle police station,” he said.
The organisation said its action was prompted by a report in the Beeld newspaper that quoted Malema as saying: “If they don't want to give the land over to us, we must take it without their permission.”
“According to a legal opinion... this behaviour of Malema in itself constitutes the criminal offence of incitement to sedition, for which he can be criminally prosecuted,” said Roets.
Malema reportedly made the remark on Wednesday while addressing residents in Thembelihle, south of Johannesburg, about the ANCYL's planned marches for “economic freedom”.
“Incitement to sedition is regarded as a very serious crime, and is under the same category as treason. Malema told his supporters to defy the authority of the government,” said Roets.
“No person should get away with inciting people to commit a crime. It is seen in a serious light and must also be treated with the necessary urgency.”
Roets said the fact that residents of Thembelihle were encouraged to keep occupying that land at the cost of their own safety was irresponsible.
Housing MEC Humprey Memezi previously announced that Thembelihle residents would be moved because the informal settlement was located in the middle of a strip of dolomite.
Dolomite is a substance that dissolves over time and can create sinkholes.
ANCYL spokesman Floyd Shivambu declined to comment on AfriForum's move to lay criminal charges. - Sapa