JOHANNESBURG - The organisation’s legal representative, Willie Spies, said that papers had been  filed last week and would be served on Lamola, who practises as an attorney in Pretoria, later this week.

He would have five days to indicate if he intended opposing the application.

Spies said it was expected that the case would be heard in the Equality Court within the next two to three months.

The complaint follows a series of statements by Lamola last month in which he allegedly advocated violent farm invasions.

Spies said the organisation had decided to issue the charge because the use of race as a metaphor for  definition of inequalities in  community was extremely dangerous.

‘‘Lamola is no longer a commentator who speaks on behalf of poor South Africans... He has now become an active instigator and champion of lawlessness and violent land-grab actions,’’ he said.

Ernst Roets of AfriForum said in court papers that Lamola’s statements encouraged hatred, division, hostility and abuse against white South Africans, Afrikaners and Afrikaner farmers.

AfriForum wants the court to declare Lamola’s statements to be hate speech in terms of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act.

Lamola stated at a media conference last month that the ANCYL would no longer be able to guarantee the safety of the Van der Merwes and Van Tonders on their farms unless white South Africans agreed to transfer their land and mineral resources voluntarily to the majority of South Africans.

The ANCYL thereafter issued a statement to ‘‘contextualise’’ Lamola’s statement, but he followed it up with further statements during a lecture at the Durban University of Technology in which he propagated ‘‘war’’ to ‘‘bring back the land to the majority of South Africans’’.

Roets said that AfriForum had arranged  a meeting with Lamola to explain to him that his words were offensive and caused harm to white people.