ConCourt hears EFF challenge to Riotous Assemblies Act
The Constitutional Court has heard an application by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) to have the Riotous Assembly Act struck declared unconstitutional.
The act was used by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to charge the party's leader Julius Malema with incitement of violence for calling on his supporters to occupy land at a rally in 2014.
The charges were laid by civil organisation AfriForum.
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The EFF also wants the court to declare the Trespassing Act unconstitutional.
"We submit that in its character, in its history and its use, the Riotous Assembly Act was designed as an instrument of a different society which was founded on racial oppression. We don't make that suggestion to imply that all laws passed under apartheid are unconstitutional," the EFF’s advocate Thembeka Ngukaitobi told the apex court.
He said the act was not a neutral law passed accidentally under apartheid. Instead, it was passed to enforce apartheid.