By Mbulelo Baloyi
- MKP says AfriForum’s actions and utterances are tantamount to treason
- Afriforum is further accused of opposing transformation and progressive legislation.
The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) laid a charge of treason against AfriForum at the Cape Town Central Police Station on Monday.
A group of MKP members of parliament, led by its Deputy President Dr John Hlophe, marched on foot to the police station chanting struggle songs before laying a charge against the Afrikaner interest group.
The treason charge stems from former US President Donald Trump’s executive order offering Afrikaners the opportunity to resettle in the US following the enactment of the Expropriation Bill.
Trump said the Cyril Ramaphosa-led ANC government was doing terrible things to certain classes of people in South Africa.
In a media statement, the MKP said the AfriForum group had misled Trump about South Africa’s land reform policies.
The MKP Deputy President said AfriForum’s actions—lobbying foreign powers against South Africa’s sovereignty and economic interests—amount to treason.
“Their betrayal is nothing less than an act of economic sabotage, a direct assault on our nation’s independence and a dangerous attempt to undermine the will of the people,” read the statement.
Under South African common law, according to Hlophe, treason is committed when an individual or group, with hostile intent, unlawfully engages in conduct aimed at undermining the authority of the state.
He added that the courts have provided legal clarity on treason in several cases, establishing principles that remain applicable today.
“The manner in which AfriForum has engaged the Trump administration in the US meets this definition,” Hlophe said.
Hlophe added that past landmark rulings reaffirmed that treason requires an overt act intended to undermine the state.
The MKP said that, in addition, the courts ruled that collaborating with foreign actors to weaken the state constituted treason, even if such plans were never fully realised.
“So AfriForum cannot be off the hook,” said the MKP Deputy President.
In its reaction, the Afrikaner self-styled think tank said it was unfazed by MKP’s treason charge against it, further stating that it would not lose sleep over it.
Image: MKP Deputy President Dr John Hlophe inside the Cape Town Central Police Station, where he laid a treason charge against AfriForum.
Source: MKP
