By Mitch Launspach
I have to take issue with your correspondent, Muhammed Omar, (“EFF has a right to protest”, The Star, Friday).
On one level, he is quite correct, the right to protest is enshrined in our Constitution, and under normal circumstances, I would certainly agree with him.
But we have to face the reality that certain racially-based minority groups have often abused this right.
In the past, it was the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, an extreme right-wing racist group, led by an openly racist and aggressive leader Eugene Terre’Blanche.
Happily, the AWB are long gone, but we now have an equally racist and aggressive group in the EFF, led by the often-inflammatory Julius Malema.
My question is thus: Can a political party, like the EFF, be given carte blanche to protest, when their actions have led to racial conflict and the destruction of property in the past?
If the AWB were around today, threatening the lives of black people, would Mr Omar grant them the same rights as he demands for the equally rabid EFF?
And would Mr Omar accept responsibility if the protest turned violent and an innocent third party was seriously injured or even killed?
No right is absolute, and judging by their previous actions, EFF members and their leaders have shown that they will recognise the constitutional norms only when it suits their purposes.
By their words and actions, they have forfeited that right.
The Star