National Freedom Party (NFP) parliamentary leader Ahmed Manzoor Shaik Emam has emerged as one of the backers of an Equality Court case by a lobby group offering members of the coloured community a R4.5m payout each in return for a R20 donation.
Shaik Emam is being punted as a candidate for the presidency in next year’s elections by the First Indigenous Nation of Southern Africa (Finsa), a group promoting Khoi-San rights and whose case he has taken forward in parliament.
While Finsa say the money is aimed at covering expenses, sources in the community have raised concerns that they are raising money on the basis of a claim that has not been scientifically quantified and which may not succeed.
Finsa has lodged several Equality Court cases against president Cyril Ramaphosa, the cooperative governance, land reform and home affairs ministers and a number of Chapter Nine institutions including the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) over the failure to uphold the rights of Khoi-San people.
The action was sparked by the failure of Ramaphosa and parliament to take heed of objections to the Khoisan Traditional Leaders Bill, which they say was an act of “discrimination and violation” against Khoi and San people.
Finsa has now started a fundraising campaign in the coloured community, issuing flyers asking “so-called Coloureds/Kleurlinge” to “join the Finsa Equality Court Cases now” at meetings being held this weekend.
“R4.5m claim per person. Stop inequality, discrimination, marginalisation, oppression of so-called coloured now,” the flyers read.
The flyers call on members of the coloured community to attend workshops around the country this weekend in cities including Durban and Cape Town at which they can join the claim.
Workshops have already been held in Gauteng and North West, with participants being asked to bring along their banking details and bank confirmation letter; proof of address and a certified copy of their identity document.
Applicants are asked to sign individual letters of claim, which are distributed on Finsa letterheads, and which demand that “the coloured be criminalised and our land returned without compensation or with compensation paid by the South African government.”
The claim also demands that “discriminatory and derogatory laws and policies” be scrapped and criminalised and that the SAHRC be held accountable for its failure to act against government over discrimination.
Charges were first laid against Ramaphosa and others in Cape Town’s Equality Court by Finsa chairperson Gregg FIck last year, and in the Johannesburg branch in November, by Glen Taaibosch, a Khoi-San chief.
Taaibosch confirmed that the fundraising campaign was taking place, but said it was simply aimed at covering costs including printing of claim forms, travel and accommodation during the consultation process.
Taaibosch said he and his colleagues were conducting the workshops to involve claimants in the process, which would see their signed claim forms submitted to the court in October.
“We have been having workshops to include as many people in the coloured community as possible,” Taaibosch said. “We are including people in our database which we will submit to the court.
Taaibosch said there was no scientific calculation for the R4.5m per person figure that they were claiming on the part of each application, each of whom had been asked to contribute R20 each for expenses.
Rather, the figure was based on the amount claimed by people from District Six who had received compensation for their homes lost during the implementation of the Group Areas Act by the apartheid regime.
“Yes, we are collecting money. I wish I could have done it for free, but printing and copying and other things cost a lot of money. We are not able to carry the costs ourselves, along with transport and accommodation at the places where we hold the workshops on weekends,” Taaibosch said.
Taaibosch said he was aware that there had been allegations that the money was being collected fraudulently and to make money out of the court case.
“There is a lot of rubbish going around that I am taking people’s R20s,” he said. “Yes, I am taking people’s R20s, but it is for paper and the cost of printing. I can prove what it’s for.”
“The money is not an issue, not a showstopper. If you don’t have R20 you can still stay and we can make a plan. If you want to be funny about it, you can.”
Taaibosch said they had appointed regional coordinators who also incurred expenses which needed to be paid.
“It’s a bitter pill to swallow when people talk about R20 as if we are doing something wrong.”
Taaibosch said that Shaik Emam was “the only person who is vocal in parliament about the Khoi and the San.”
While Nicsa was not a party and had not formally endorsed anyone for next year’s poll, it has been circulating flyers backing Shaik Emam as its presidential candidate for the elections.
“We are not a political party. We may decide to put our muscle or our voice behind a party when we have discussed and decided upon that. When the time is right we will probably make that decision.”
Taaibosch said that even if they did not win the reparations payout, the case would be a success if “we give some hope to coloured people”.
“We have been forgotten and left behind. It is not about the R4.5m. Even if we don’t get the R4.5m, if we can get the government to change policies that discriminate against the coloured child, then it will be a success.”
Shaik Emam said the NFP had backed the cause of Nicsa and of the Khoi and San people, and supported the Equality Court case for this reason.
“We believe that first nation people must enjoy the same economic and financial benefits as the rest of the people in our country and that the litigation is a necessary step they have taken to address this,” Shaik Emam said.
He said he was aware that money was being collected from applicants, but that it was being used to cover the expenses incurred in the workshopping and claim submission processes.
On the R4.5m per person payout, Shaik Emam said that he was not aware of the details and that he had not attended any of the workshops.
“The matter still needs to be taken to court and there is no guarantee whether they will actually be granted anything at all,” he said.
“I honestly don’t believe that there is anything untoward here.”
He said that Nicsa had “identified me as a potential presidential candidate” but that this was a “matter for the NFP” to decide upon.
NFP secretary general Canaan Mdletshe said that the allegation that money was being collected in return for participation in the claim was a “serious allegation.”
“The party has got nothing to do with it. He told us that he was approached to be the president of this organisation or movement representing the Khoi and San communities,” Mdletshe said.
“What he does outside the [party] duties is his own thing, but it is concerning if they go around collecting money, especially him because people would always see him as NFP,” Mdletshe.
“Maybe we would have to speak to him about this thing.”
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