Today, Black First Land First (BLF) will attend a mediation process at the offices of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) in the matter of Lucy Strydom versus BLF and 6 others under case number 11/2018 EQ JHB. This follows the order on 18 July 2018 of the Equality Court (sitting at the Johannesburg Magistrate) that the parties engage in mediation.
The SAHRC financially supports the racist Lucy Strydom via legal representation in her quest to get BLF banned. The objective of Strydom’s case is to stop BLF from contesting the 2019 elections.
In the first court hearing the Magistrate agreed with BLF that the matter must proceed to mediation. Also the Magistate ruled that BLF may seek the assistance of the SAHRC to fund its legal representation just as the Applicant, Lucy Strydom, has done in this case. The SAHRC has turned down BLF’s subsequent written request for legal assistance, without any sound reason.
BLF had also asked the SAHRC for a mediation process in line with the court order dated 18 July 2018. While the SAHRC has agreed to mediation herein it has contravened the impartiality requirement by imposing its own Chief Executive Officer (CEO) as the mediator. This makes the SAHRC the complainant and the mediator at the same time. The SAHRC is not interested in mediation to facilitate an amicable resolution of this matter. It seems to us that all the SAHRC wishes for is to get BLF banned from contesting elections next year.
BLF will attend the mediation session and demand a neural mediator. We will insist that the mediation services offered at Court be utilized and to this end an appropriate mediator, from a panel of accredited mediators appointed by the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, be chosen. Strydom claims to be harassed by slogans such as ‘one settler, one bullet’ and the BLF motto, ‘Land or Death’. Assisted by the SAHRC she has asked the Court to, amongst other things, deregister BLF from the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). This is a thinly veiled attempt to ban BLF.
BLF will be on the ballot paper in 2019 to defend radical economic transformation. We call on the SAHRC to stop playing politics. We note the blatant bias on the part of the SAHRC. They are quick to assist the racist Lucy Strydom but are refusing to give BLF the same courtesy.
The mediation will take place under the following details:
Date: 17 September 2018
Time: 2pm
Venue: SAHRC offices, 2nd floor,
33 Hoofd Street, Braampark,
Forum 3, Braamfontein.
Issued by Black First Land First, National Coordinating Committee (BLF NCC)
17 September 2018
Black First Land First Email:[email protected]
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Website: www.blf.org.za
Zanele Lwana
(Deputy President)
Cell: +27799867225
Lindsay Maasdorp
(National Spokesperson)
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(Head of Media & Communications)
Cell: +27 82 216 7664