Julius Malema and Mbuyiseni Ndlozi during the EFF's "Pay back the Money" March from Miriam Makeba Square to the Constitutiuonal Court in Braamfontein, 9 February 2016. Picture: Neil McCartney
The spokesperson of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Mbuyiseni Ndlozi took to social media on Tuesday in the wake of former NPA top prosecutor Gerrie Nel’s surprise resignation to declare that he and his party were not scared of Nel.
Nel gave the NPA 24 hours’ notice following his decision to head up a private prosecutions unit at minority civil rights group AfriForum.
Ndlozi called AfriForum the Ku Klux Klan, a violent white supremacist group from the US. This was based on the fact that AfriForum was founded to advocate predominantly for the rights of white people.
“We not scared of Gerrie Nel; we will never be scared of Ku Klux Klan AfriForum – we know that they have EFF as the target! We are ready!”
It’s not clear on what basis the EFF were criticising Nel, as he made no mention of targeting the EFF or any other particular individual during his announcement on Tuesday.
Speaking like a politician, Nel explained that his unit would counter the “perception” that the NPA selectively prosecutes cases if indeed that has been the case. He said it would be an opportunity to reopen some of his old cases that had gone nowhere with the NPA. He also explained that his unit would be focusing on corruption but would also take cases from any source if they had merit, and they wouldn’t be prosecuting only on behalf of the 180 000 AfriForum members who are expected to be funding the private prosecutions unit. They will also be soliciting further donations.
Nel faced a barrage of criticism for joining AfriForum after a distinguished career of 36 years as a prosecutor who handled a number of high-profile cases.
He countered this by saying his unit would act without bias and that he hoped he had done enough to prove his integrity.