AfriForum Threatens Panyanza Lesufi With R500k Defamation Lawsuit if He Fails to Apologise by Friday

• Panyanza Lesufi, MEC for Education in Gauteng, has until Friday to issue an apology to AfriForum for calling the lobby group racist
• The newly elected ANC provincial chairperson did not take the threat of legal action too well and asked the organisation why it's obsessed with him
• South Africans seem to have an opposing view on the matter, with some people fully standing behind Lesufi and others wanting no part in the tiff

JOHANNESBURG - MEC for Education in the Gauteng province, Panyanza Lesufi, has found himself in deep financial waters after he claimed the lobby group AfriForum is a racist organisation.

AfriForum has not taken the allegation lightly and has given Lesufi until Friday, 29 July, to publicly apologise for the remark or face a defamation lawsuit of R500 000.

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According to SABC News, Lesufi made his remarks shortly after being elected as the Gauteng provincial chairperson of the African National Congress last month. Ernst Roets, Afriforum's Head of Policy and Action, stated in reaction to Lesufi's utterances that free speech is important but should not be used irresponsibly.

Roets added that AfriForum could not just let go of Lesufi's remarks and finds it unfortunate that people also make claims against organisations. He further stated that they hope to resolve the matter with Lesufi outside court.

Meanwhile, Lesufi took to his social media account to respond to AfriForum's bid to have him apologise. Lesufi tagged AfriForum in his post and asked the organisation why it's obsessed with him.

A few days earlier, Lesufi posted a section of the letter sent to him by AfriForum's legal representative and stated that he would not allow the organisation to intimidate or bully him, adding that he fought for freedom of speech during the apartheid era.

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Here's the post:

South Africans react

Some South Africans stood with Lesufi and agreed that AfriForum is a racist organisation. In contrast, others felt he should fight his battles and not bring his issue to social media.

Here are some comments:

@Black_Indaba said:

"You didn’t say anything that was not true. AfriForum literally says in their founding statement they exist to represent Afrikaaners and to preserve their culture. Why are they suddenly irked by that?"

@van_blessin said:

"We can't continue to be dictated by Afriforum on how we perceive racism."

@mkhomazi23 said:

"What is the obsession with this R500k, even in the EFF hate speech case they are demanding R500k."

@Vuyo02286575 said:

"They saw the video where you were speaking about those 3 families controlling everything in our country and heard you say you don't have money for a lawsuit. That's what gave them this idea."

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AfriForum receives backlash for fighting Equality Court's ruling that labelled Apartheid flag as hate speech

Briefly News previously reported that the Afrikaans civil rights movement, AfriForum, is being lambasted online for wanting to display the South African apartheid flag.

Equality Court made a ruling that declared the display of the flag a form of hate speech regardless of whether it is being done in public or private places.

The movement's application to overturn the ruling made by the Equality Court that declared the displaying of the flag as hate speech angered South Africans. The Supreme Court of Appeal will attend to the matter in Bloemfontein.

Source: Briefly News