/ 19 March 2010

AfriForum Youth stopped from delivering memo

The ANC Youth League refused to accept a memorandum from AfriForum Youth in Johannesburg on Friday.

AfriForum Youth national chairperson Ernst Roets said the ANC headquarters, Luthuli House, was surrounded by police officers and they were refused entry.

“Officials and policemen told us we were not allowed there and when we informed them that we were only coming to give them a list of the farm-attack victims and a memorandum, they took the list and the memo, threw it on the pavement and literally stepped on it,” Roets said.

He was addressing a crowd of AfriForum supporters in Mary Fitzgerald Square who had gathered to protest against ANCYL leader Julius Malema for recently singing “Kill the Boer”.

AfriForum had drawn up a list of 1 600 people murdered on South African farms in recent years, to show that Malema’s words could have consequences.

The crowd responded to Roets’ words, with “Stop Malema” and “Sies”.

Mail & Guardian senior political reporter Mandy Rossouw has earned the ire of the ANC Youth League for her astute writing on its president, Julius Malema. Watch her take on Malema’s income scandal — and why the controversial figure is not going to go away anytime soon.

Roets said they viewed the conduct of the ANCYL officials and the officers who stepped on the memorandum and the list, as a slap in the face.

However he said this was not the end of their campaign and they would see Malema in court.

The representatives who took the memorandum to Luthuli House included Roets, AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel and musician Steve Hofmeyr.

The crowd had dispersed by 11.30am. – Sapa