Yesterday AfriForum, an Afrikaans civil rights movement, laid criminal charges against 100 Twitter users at Lyttelton Police Station. The charges include incitement to commit arson and violence, among other things.
AfriForum also submitted a series of affidavits when the charges were laid. When drafting the affidavits, AfriForum was assisted by the South African Police Service (SAPS) and criminal law expert Dr Llewellyn Curlewis. AfriForum has requested that SAPS investigate the 100 individuals listed so that the people can be identified and charged. The movement has also requested regular updates from SAPS and has offered additional assistance in the case.
Commenting on the matter, AfriForum deputy chief executive Ernst Roest said: “There seems to be a general impression that whatever you say on social media is somehow acceptable and will not have any consequences.”
AfriForum requested that the public send them screenshots of hate speech, racism and incitement to violence. Roest said that the response was overwhelming. He also said, “We are concerned about the intensity of some of the messages and screenshots that we received.”
According to The Citizen, these are some the statements allegedly made on social media:
On the list appear some of the prominent Fees Must Fall activists such as Macebo Dlamini and Busiswe Seabe. Other users listed appear to be fake accounts. Obatala Mcambi was one of the accounts thought to be a made-up person. This user has previously had charges laid against them, but with no result.
After news of AfriForum’s plan to lay charges broke on Wednesday, people took to social media to express their opinions. Seabe commented on Facebook saying “So I’m part of this list, number 87 to be exact. I’m just trying to understand why though. I will clearly know no rest on this earth. If it’s not police brutality, Wits and our whinning [sic] VC Habib, it’s Afriforum. I can only assume they are still touched about the “debate” we had on Judge for Yourself.”
Afriforum laying charges on black people is the biggest joke ever. I blame the TRC for this white people still think they own SA ??? pic.twitter.com/LmFm5fvd19
— The B in LGBTQ+ (@NosiphoL__) June 29, 2017
Afriforum is an oxymoron . I don't understand their purpose . At best they ignorant fools at worst evil white supremacists ??
— Jenifer (@SteynJenifer) June 29, 2017
https://twitter.com/wati_/status/879997345563332608
The list of names has been made available to the public:
