ANC to lay crimen injuria case against Steve Hofmeyr in Johannesburg on Monday

The African National Congress (ANC) says it will lay criminal charges against controversial Afrikaans singer Steve Hofmeyr on Monday afternoon for his alleged racist rants on social media.

The ANC last week announced it planned to open a case of crimen injuria against Hofmeyr in Cape Town on Thursday. However, the party changed its plans and said it had decided to lay charges in Johannesburg instead.

ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe said last week the party had decided it would make more sense to lay the charge in Johannesburg, where the ANC's head office is located, for purposes of monitoring the case's progress.

Hofmeyr landed himself in hot water after a controversial tweet he posted on Wednesday addressed to SA's ambassador to Denmark, Zindzi Mandela, and DA MP Phumzile van Damme, threatening them that "when you come to take our lives and land, you will die".

The ANC on Sunday said Hofmeyr’s  attacks smacked of barbarism, white supremacy and toxic masculinity.

“The ANC urges South Africans to isolate people that continue to promote racism in our country and remains resolute in its campaign of building a non-racial, democratic and prosperous society,” the party said in a statement.

It said laying charges of crimen injuria against Hofmeyr would send a strong message that racists hade no place in a democratic society.