AfriForum lays charges against EFF Secretary General

7 November 2019

AfriForum laid criminal charges of incitement to violence against Godrich Gardee, Secretary General of the EFF, at the Lyttelton police station in Pretoria today. The organisation filed charges under Section 18 of the Riotous Assemblies Act, 17 of 1956.

This follows Gardee’s recent tweet stating that the Loftus Versfeld stadium where Angus Buchan has organised an event should be “booby-trapped” with limpet mines prior to the event. Buchan specifically called for Afrikaners to attend this event.

“The disturbing tweet by the Secretary General of the EFF seems to indicate that the party believes it can incite violence against South African citizens without having to face any consequences. Violent threats of this nature have no place in any society, especially not from the Secretary General of the third-largest political party in South Africa,” says Ernst van Zyl, Campaign Officer at AfriForum.

AfriForum also lodged a complaint of hate speech with the South African Human Rights Commission against Gardee. 

According to Van Zyl, AfriForum views Gardee’s threatening tweet as very dangerous and malicious. “The civil rights organisation therefore took steps to ensure justice through proper legal channels. We urge the authorities to take proper action against Gardee to ensure accountability and also to serve as a deterrent for those who want to make violent threats of this nature in the future,” Van Zyl concludes.

Issued by Carina Bester, Media Relations Officer, AfriForum, 7 November 2019