'You kill one black person‚ we kill five white people' - BLF president

Black First Land First (BLF) has defended its president‚ Andile Mngxitama‚ for urging supporters to kill white people and their pets should black people be attacked and killed.

Mngxitama made the comments‚ which have ignited a heated debate and calls for him to be prosecuted for hate speech‚ to supporters at a party rally in Potchefstroom‚ in the North West‚ on Saturday.

BLF spokesperson Lindsay Maasdorp told TimesLIVE on Monday that Mngxitama had been speaking in the context of self-defence.

Maasdorp said supporters were only being instructed to defend themselves should they be attacked and killed by white people.

Mngxitama‚ he added‚ had been responding to claims made by billionaire Johann Rupert that he would pay taxi bosses to kill black people.

This‚ according to Maasdorp‚ was inciting black-on-black violence and the BLF "couldn’t allow that to happen".

During his speech‚ Mngxitama told his supporters to retaliate should they be attacked by taxi bosses.

"Johann Rupert says if we touch him he is going to unleash upon us the taxi-industry people.

"Now here is a message to Johann Rupert: pay the taxi industry bosses‚ but here is the deal‚ for each one person that is being killed by the taxi industry‚ we kill five white people.

"You kill one of us‚ we will kill five of you. We will kill their children‚ we will kill their woman‚ we will kill anything that we find on our way‚" Mngxitama said.

According to Maasdorp‚ the "same mistake was made in the 80s".

"Just like in the 80s‚ we know the National Party under [FW]de Klerk was using the Inkatha Freedom Party and the ANC to fight against each other and kill black people.

"Johann Rupert has instigated the same violence recently. We are instructing our people that we can’t fall into the trap that Johann Rupert has set to see us killing ourselves.

"We stand by our word. This is our position‚" he said.

Rupert mentioned during a recent and much talked about interview with Power FM that he knew people in the taxi industry.

The EFF took exception and accused the billionaire of suggesting that people in the industry would protect him from the red berets.

South Africans have since asked that Mngxitama be charged with hate speech and for inciting violence.

The Human Rights Commission has accused the BLF of hate speech in the past and has recommended that it should be prevented from contesting the 2019 election.

The DA has condemned Mngxitama's remarks.

Speaking at the party's 2018 government review in parliament on Monday‚ DA leader Mmusi Maimane described Mngxitama's statement as hate speech.

"It must be made clear up front that [Mngxitama’s] recent remarks are a violation of human rights and tantamount to hate speech. On Human Rights Day‚ and every other day... hate speech must always be spoken out against. Mngxitama’s comments cheapen people's rights to human dignity which is a fundamental tenet of what liberal democracy depends on‚" Maimane said.

"This guarantee exists because we are human beings. It does not exist because we belong to a group or because we are any one individual‚" he added.

During a BLF rally at the weekend‚ Mngxitama threatened to kill five white people for every black person killed.

"They kill one of us‚ we will kill five white people. We will kill their children‚ we will kill the women‚ we will kill anything that we find on our way... We kill their children‚ we kill their women‚ we kill their dogs‚ we kill their cats‚ we kill anything that comes before us‚" he said.