{"id":697,"date":"2025-05-19T12:58:18","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T12:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/?p=697"},"modified":"2025-05-20T00:13:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T00:13:11","slug":"solidarity-threatens-ntshavheni-with-defamation-over-inflammatory-rhetoric","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/19\/solidarity-threatens-ntshavheni-with-defamation-over-inflammatory-rhetoric\/","title":{"rendered":"Solidarity threatens Ntshavheni with defamation over \u2018inflammatory rhetoric\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trade union Solidarity <\/a>has issued a letter of demand to Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, accusing her of defamation, intimidation and unconstitutional conduct in a series of public statements that it says were \u201cfalse, harmful and insulting\u201d and intended to damage its public standing. <\/p>\n

The letter outlines a set of grievances against Ntshavheni<\/a> arising from statements she made during a media briefing on 27 March, and public statements she made on 13 May. Solidarity has given the minister seven days to retract her claims and issue an apology, or it will pursue legal action. <\/p>\n

Ntshavheni has accused Solidarity and civil rights group AfriForum of conducting a continued misinformation campaign involving farm murders and the persecution of minorities, and of peddling the same when the organisations were in the United States.  <\/p>\n

Solidarity\u2019s demand follows the departure of 49 Afrikaners to the US last week, after they were granted asylum. <\/p>\n

Their relocation was made in line with a policy<\/a> under President Donald Trump\u2019s administration, which allows Afrikaners and other racial minorities from South Africa to apply for refugee status if they can demonstrate \u201ceither a history of persecution or a credible fear of future persecution\u201d. <\/p>\n

President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to meet Trump in Washington on Wednesday as part of a working visit to the US.<\/p>\n

Among the topics likely to be discussed is the narrative surrounding Afrikaner farmers \u2014 a subject Trump addressed in his first administration and his latest, claiming that they are victims of racial targeting and genocide.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Solidarity\u2019s letter describes Ntshaveni\u2019s communiqu\u00e9 as defamatory, stating it implied that Solidarity had deliberately and maliciously spread falsehoods. <\/p>\n

On 13 May, Ntshaveni referred to Solidarity\u2019s actions as \u201ctreasonous\u201d, accusing the group of inciting foreign interference and undermining national sovereignty. She has confirmed in parliament that Solidarity and AfriForum are under investigation for treason, and has suggested regulating civil society groups.  <\/p>\n

Solidarity said in its letter: \u201cThe tenor, placement, and language leave little doubt that the intention was to impute to our client conduct that is duplicitous and deliberately misleading.\u201d <\/p>\n

The trade union, which represents more than 200 000 professionals, said it has never endorsed or used the term \u201cwhite genocide\u201d, nor misrepresented crime statistics about farm murders. <\/p>\n

Farm killings are an emotive topic in the country. In March, the constitutional court refused AfriForum leave to appeal against a supreme court ruling that the song \u201ckill the boer<\/a>\u201d does not constitute hate speech. Various politicians have also chosen not to condemn it. <\/p>\n

The song is often sung by Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema at his political rallies. Malema is also known for making inflammatory remarks about white and Indian South Africans.<\/p>\n

Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has repeatedly said that according to crime statistics, from October to December 2024, only one farm killing was recorded. <\/p>\n

AfriForum, which has its own neighbourhood watch structures and has been recording farm murders for years – has disputed this, saying there were eight farm murders in those three months. The information has been submitted to Mchunu, after he challenged the organisation to do so.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Solidarity said in its letter to Ntshavheni that it has consistently based its advocacy on publicly available data, handled with \u201cdue care\u201d and \u201ccircumspection\u201d.<\/p>\n

The letter further claims that the government\u2019s treatment of Solidarity illustrates a growing trend of hostility toward civil society organisations that critique state actions. It says such conduct contravenes a broad array of legal protections, both domestic and international.<\/p>\n

Citing multiple constitutional rights \u2014 including freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly \u2014 as well as international agreements such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and several International Labour Organisation conventions, Solidarity insists that its rights have been violated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe continued reference to Solidarity\u2019s advocacy, statistics, and international engagements as if they were tantamount to incitement, betrayal, or disinformation, is nothing less than an abuse of your public office,\u201d the letter states.<\/p>\n

The union\u2019s attorneys have set a deadline of 21 May for the minister to comply with their demand, warning that failure to do so will result in legal action. <\/p>\n

Ntshaveni\u2019s office said it would not respond to questions from the Mail & Guardian.<\/em><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trade union Solidarity has issued a letter of demand to Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, accusing her of defamation, intimidation and unconstitutional conduct in a series of public statements that it says were \u201cfalse, harmful and insulting\u201d and intended to damage its public standing.  The letter outlines a set of grievances against Ntshavheni arising […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=697"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":698,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697\/revisions\/698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}