Black First Land First (BLF) has denied that they are behind the threatening messages that ANC MP Makhosi Khoza has received.
After Khoza -- a vocal critic of what she has termed the ANC's "politics of patronage", and campaigner for a secret ballot in the upcoming motion of no confidence vote against President Jacob Zuma --- posted screengrabs of threatening SMS's she has received on her Facebook profile, Daily Maverick's investigative unit Scorpio ascertained that the number belonged to BLF.
When News24 called the number earlier on Saturday, it rang and went to voicemail.
BLF responded, in a press statement, that it "notes with disdain the desperate campaign by the white media to tarnish the name of our revolutionary movement through fake news".
"The story peddled by the white owned media about BLF's telephone number being associated with the alleged threats on the life of Dr Makhosi Khoza, is a cheap fabrication. BLF does not and will not fight black people, including those we regard as askaris," reads the statement.
"This fact is known to the white owned media that continues to play ignorant. In this respect, the white owned media hopes to generate a situation of black on black violence in our country."
BLF went on to say that its members would never make threats against a black person and that they had a "Black Code".
"The BLACK CODE mandates BLF to defend all blacks, even those we disagree with. There is no way that BLF could threaten any black person. We reject with contempt the attempt to link our movement to the phone number through which the calls were ostensibly made.
"BLF believes that there must be a white person or persons behind the attempt to smear our organisation."
'She is just loud and irrelevant'
Khoza shot to prominence last year as the chairperson of the committee that selected the new Public Protector, and as member of the ad hoc committee that investigated the SABC board.
She showed a strong commitment to good governance, and little regard for political expediency. She has continued with this approach since being appointed chairperson of the portfolio committee on public service and administration.
But BLF said they didn't regard her "as a political anything".
"She is just loud and irrelevant. Moreover, since she is black, we won't, under any circumstances, threaten her. The white owned media needs to understand what BLF stands for and stop peddling cheap lies."
"BLF is under massive attack from white monopoly capital. The media reports under reply are generated as part of the onslaught on the organisation. We won't be deterred. Land must be returned by any means necessary!"
On July 7, the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg granted the South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef) an interdict against BLF and its leader, Andile Mngxitama, after they threatened journalists reporting on the Guptas and their role in alleged state capture.
BLF has been accused of receiving funding from the Guptas, a claim denied by Mngxitama. -- News24