The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) rejects with contempt the threats by government and Minister Ronald Lamola to muzzle political opponents and civil rights groups by stripping them of their citizenship due to their so-called spreading of “misinformation”.
An additional proposal that opposition voices should be prosecuted for “high treason” simply because they expose the truth about South Africa on international forums is also extremely dangerous and unacceptable.
It is reminiscent of the tactics employed by dictators such as Stalin and Lenin as well as recent modern authoritarian leaders such as Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, who used state violence and intimidation to silence alternative voices.
When a government cannot handle the truth about its own failures, it tries to silence those who voice it through making threats and stripping them of their fundamental rights, such as citizenship in this case.
Minister Lamola (International Relations and Cooperation) and the ANC part of the GNU should bear in mind that their support has already plunged far below 50% and that South Africa is not a one-party regime under ANC rule.
South Africa is a constitutional democracy, and the country’s Constitutional Court has repeatedly stipulated that the state may not arbitrarily use citizenship as a political punitive measure.
Section 20 of South Africa’s Constitution unequivocally protects the right to citizenship, while Section 16 guarantees the right to freedom of expression.
Criticising a corrupt and incompetent government does not equate to criticising a country. In fact, in South Africa’s case, it is the exact opposite: this is a genuine attempt to protect the country and its people against further state decline and state abuses.
Over the past 30 years, the ANC government has driven South Africa to the edge of utter ruin through its rampant corruption, state capture, crime and detrimental racial policy.
As the ANC’s support has plummeted to record-low levels, there is an attempt to create a police state with zero tolerance for any critical voices.
The Freedom Front Plus refuses to be muzzled, intimidated or blackmailed by threats from the ANC.
The party will continue to use every available forum to inform the public and the international community of the actual state of affairs in South Africa, the oppression of minority groups and the ANC’s increasingly authoritarian tendencies.
