The Black First Land First (BLF) insists that it has complied with the court order issued against them on Friday.

BLF president Andile Mgxithama briefed the media in Johannesburg on Sunday afternoon, saying his party had no intentions to defy the court order.

On Friday, the High Court in Johannesburg ruled in favour of the South African National Editors Forum (SANEF) and directed BLF to stop intimidating and harassing journalists.

The court also ordered that BLF must write a public statement distancing itself from violence.

Mgxithama says he has not broken the law and has no intention to do so in future.  “We want to make it clear from the point of view of BLF, we have complied with the court order and have no intention of not complying. The impression being created by white owned media is that we don’t want to comply with the court order that is why they run to the media and grandstand instead of talking to us, and get a cheap headline, BLF didn’t comply with the court order.”

Mgxithama says his party had no intention of intimidating members of the media but will not tolerate racism of any kind.

“BLF assures the applicants that it shall not, we go even further, we never intended to harm you in any way, our fight is with racism and BLF shall continue to counter any acts of racism. BLF also welcomes the clarification by the court order that private homes are not zones of protests. We welcome this precedence setting decision. Indeed protesting at the Gupta family home is as undesirable as protesting at the home of Peter Bruce.”

On Saturday, Police Minister Fikile Mbalula issued a statement saying the police will not hesitate to act against those who undermine court decisions, referring to members of BLF who clashed with the members of the media after the High Court in Johannesburg ruled in favour of the South African National Editors Forum on Friday.

Police spokesperson, Vuyo Mhaga says: “All of us must respect the outcomes of the court. Let’s carry on with the robust engagements in SA, that’s what SA is made of. But at no point must we think it’s normal to go and protest in someone’s private residence whereas there are other areas to do so. So, we are expecting members of the BLF in particular and all South Africans to abide by that court ruling.”

Mgxithama says he has a message for Mbalula. “Our attitude to the minister is please take your job seriously this time around. We know that he left sports untransformed including innocuous codes like hockey. He could not transform hockey just to say to people playing with the stick and say wait, you are too white can we get a few more black people so that there might be some balance. You know the sad thing is the people Mbalula is trying to impress, don’t take him seriously. They said so in court, they don’t respect the police, they don’t respect Mbalula.”

Mgxithama says he has been alerted of efforts to destroy his movement.

“We can reveal something very important today that an amount of R50 million has been raised to shut down BLF through constant legal attacks on our movement, media campaign and sponsoring violence against our members and leadership. Part of these funds are mobilised from imperialist centres such as London but most of this is sourced from SA white monopoly capital.”

He expressed his disappointment with Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba saying he is going against radical economic transformation and undermine the Public Protector who is trying to make sure that the reserve bank serves the interests of the people.