Lobby group Afriforum has given Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi until Friday to apologise or face a R500 000 defamation lawsuit.
The lobby group says the lawsuit stems from Lesufi’s alleged comments that Afriforum is racist.
Lesufi allegedly made the comments last month after his election as ANC provincial chairperson.
Afriforum’s Head of Policy and Action, Ernst Roets, says free speech is important but it must be made responsibly.
“It’s so unfortunate to have a situation where people simply make false claims about other organisations and role players and defend it. We cannot just let it go.”
“Mr Lesufi’s main issue here is that he seems to be hell bent on destroying Afrikaans schools. Trying to address this issue outside the realm of the court would be the appropriate way to go but it doesn’t always work out like that. We are concerned about defamation, about false claims being thrown into the public sphere,” adds Roets.
Below is the full interview with Afriforum’s Ernst Roets on SAfm’s First Take programme:
VIDEO | ANC Gauteng conference continues, Natasha Phiri interviews Panyaza Lesufi:
