BLF, AfriForum members clash in court as swear words fly
13 November 2019
A fight broke out between Black First Land First (BLF) and AfriForum members at the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.
AfriForum has taken BLF leader Andile Mngxitama to court over alleged racist remarks he made during a speech in Potchefstroom last year.
We’re back from lunch. There was an altercation in court just as we broke for lunch. Members of BLF started screaming and threatened our legal team. When I took a picture of them, they attacked me and stole my phone. Fortunately we were able to get it back.
— Ernst Roets (@ErnstRoets) November 13, 2019
During a rally, Mngxitama threatened to kill five white people for every black person killed in the country. He also said that white women and children would be killed if a black person was murdered.
After the court watched a video on farm murders submitted by AfriForum, BLF members made remarks about the video.
An AfriForum member then took a picture of the BLF members making the remarks and a fight ensued.
While swear words flew around the courtroom, officials struggled to separate the two groups. Some BLF members would not let AfriForum leave the room until they deleted the picture.
The magistrate has barred photographs from being taken in the courtroom.
This first paragraph is misleading. No-one from AfriForum used a swearword. Security struggled to get the BLF members off us, not the other way around. We didn’t fight with anyone and we cooperated with security.@TeamNews24 ought to clarify the report. pic.twitter.com/SfLe1a9sFj
— Ernst Roets (@ErnstRoets) November 13, 2019
The scuffle came to a head when Mngxitama approached one Afriforum legal representative and began swearing him, telling him to go back to Holland.
The BLF has since approached the magistrate to remedy the situation.
