AfriForum, EFF, ANC working together to prevent expropriation, says BLF

The radical leftist party believes expropriation without compensation is a sham, but still wants to prevent AfriForum's bid to stop it.

AfriForum’s Kallie Kriel prevented from addressing the media by BLF activists outside the Randburg Magistrate’s Court, 12 July 2018, after the appearance of former president Jacob Zuma’s son Duduzane. Picture: Nigel Sibanda

Black First Land First (BLF) have announced their intention to try and stop AfriForum from approaching the high court in a bid to suspend the adoption of a recent report by the Constitutional Review Committee recommending that section 25 of the constitution should be amended to allow for expropriation without compensation.

BLF intends to apply to be admitted as a friend of the court in the matter.

AfriForum wants the committee’s decision reversed on an urgent basis, but parliament said on Sunday it had filed an answering affidavit, asking the court to dismiss or strike AfriForum’s application from the court roll with punitive costs.

BLF’s position on the matter is complicated, as while they want to stop AfriForum from succeeding in their application to suspend the adoption of the report, they also believe the report itself is a sham, and that the ANC and the EFF have only pushed for expropriation without compensation in a bid to get votes in 2019, without any actual intention of going through with it.

A statement from the party reads: “AfriForum is a criminal, racist organisation which wants to stop black people from getting back the land that was stolen by the colonial settlers. The political roadshow on land expropriation was nothing more than a lie to deceive black people into believing that they will get land hence they must vote for the lying African National Congress (ANC) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in the 2019 general election.”

The statement goes on to suggest that AfriForum, the ANC, and the EFF are all united in their attempts to make sure expropriation doesn’t happen.

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“Together with the ANC and EFF, AfriForum will work hard to ensure there is no land expropriation without compensation for blacks – only more promises in exchange for their votes in 2019 general election.”

According to BLF: “The content of the ANC-EFF parliamentary motion does not mean the return without compensation of all land to the black majority. It means blacks will get reject, unproductive land while whites retain all the productive land.”

Why the party wants to fight against AfriForum’s opposition to a parliamentary motion it believes is bogus, is unclear.

The party also believes that the roadshow which saw ordinary South Africans consulted on land expropriation was a sham. Through the roadshow, the ANC and EFF have “given the racist AfriForum ammunition to fight the landless”, the statement says.

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