AfriForum pursues R500,000 fine and 18-month jail term for Julius Malema over land occupation comments
Civil rights organisation AfriForum has launched a contempt of court application against Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema and his party following continued calls for illegal land occupations.
AfriForum Chief Executive Kallie Kriel confirmed that the application was filed at the High Court in Pretoria. The move comes after Malema and the EFF made renewed calls encouraging members of the public to occupy land illegally.
Speaking during a lecture at the University of Limpopo, Malema urged township residents to occupy white-owned land, arguing that doing so would improve their living conditions.
Highlighting a specific example, Malema pointed to the Kayamandi township in Stellenbosch: “Those guys in Kayamandi live crammed together on a hill, and right next to them is beautiful, green land spanning many hectares,” he said. “On this land, there is just one house belonging to a white man on 3,000 hectares of land. It is a British colonial-style house. They will never go there.”
Malema recalled telling local residents during a visit: “We must go and take that land. We must go and occupy that land. We can’t live like this.” While noting that residents had not acted immediately, he added: “I will never stop, because politicising people isn’t a quick fix. It takes time. So, one day, when the youth of Kayamandi stand up and go into that farm in Stellenbosch, they will be speaking about us.”
Kriel pointed out that these statements directly violate an interdict AfriForum obtained in 2017. The court order strictly prohibits the EFF and Malema from inciting, encouraging, instructing, or recruiting anyone to enter or occupy land without permission.
The EFF has repeatedly challenged the 2017 order without success:
March 2023: The Constitutional Court dismissed the party’s initial appeal.
June 2023: A further application to the Supreme Court of Appeal was turned down.
September 2023: A second bid at the Constitutional Court was also dismissed.
Because the interdict remains legally binding, AfriForum is now requesting that the High Court hold Malema and the EFF in contempt. The lobby group wants the court to impose an R500,000 fine and sentence Malema to 18 months in prison, or hand down another appropriate sanction.
“The EFF and Malema know what the court order stipulates and have spent years unsuccessfully trying to overturn it,” said Kriel. “They are now wilfully ignoring the order, and AfriForum will ensure that they face the consequences of their actions.”
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