Judge blocks bequest to white supremacist organisation

The Western Cape High Court has ruled invalid a bequest of millions of rands to a white supremacy group. Archive photo: Ashraf Hendricks

• The Western Cape High Court has ruled that a bequest to a white supremacy group would promote racial hatred.
• Judge Rosheni Allie said the bequest by Grantland Michael Bray to Boerelegioen would be used for illegal training purposes which violated constitutional values.
• The judge said common law provided for a declaration of unenforceability in a will where a provision would fund unlawful and discriminatory activities.
• Evidence was that Bray was paranoid about an “impending white genocide” before his death in 2022 and added the bequest to his will.

A bequest by a Cape Town man to a white supremacy group has been declared invalid because it “promoted racial hatred” and was contrary to public policy.

Western Cape High Court Judge Rosheni Allie has ruled that the bequest by Grantland Michael Bray to the Boerelegioen, to be used for illegal training purposes, violated constitutional values.

The application to invalidate a section of the will was made by Bray’s siblings and the trustees of the Bray family trust.

The Boerelegioen RSA (Pty) Ltd and the Boerelegioen NPC opposed the application and filed papers, but their attorney then withdrew, informing the court that they were aware that the case had been set down but that no-one would appear on their behalf.

Bray’s siblings told the court that aged 26, he had been in an accident while doing military service which left him quadriplegic.

They said before this, he had been “difficult and unpleasant” and had been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and prescribed medication.

Between 2021 and 2022 he became “obsessed with the idea of an impending genocide of white people in South Africa”, they said.

That idea was fuelled by his racist views and online content. They said he viewed far-right YouTube channels constantly, became paranoid, and believed that the “day” of impending genocide of white people would arrive soon.

Judge Allie, in her recent ruling, said the siblings believed the training arm of the Boerelegion (BL) was housed at the premises of Pathfinder Bushcraft and Survival (Pty) Ltd.

A Mr Steytler (the sole director) and a Mr Jonck met with Bray in December 2020. It was alleged that during that meeting, Bray gave him a bag of Krugerrands said to be worth R6-million. This was denied by the BL in its papers.

In 2021, Steytler again visited Bray and gave him a beret and a flag. While Bray believed he had been given membership of the organisation, and was paying a monthly membership fee, his siblings said this was not true, because the organisation’s manifesto stated that membership was only open to those of “Boer” blood.

In 2021, Bray amended his will, leaving some of his estate to the organisation.

The siblings said their brother became increasingly paranoid over this time. While living in a secure estate in Noordhoek, he bought a house in Fish Hoek without seeing it because he believed he could be rescued there by the BL.

It was alleged that he told an employee that his money would be used for an organisation that would “exterminate every black person”.

The employee warned him that he was being scammed by crooks after he expressed reservations about the authenticity of the “generals” in the BL.

Bray died in March 2022.

His attorney then discovered that both Steytler and Jonck had resigned from the BL. The alleged founder of BL, a Mr van Zyl, claimed to have no knowledge of the Krugerrands.

The siblings said they had researched BL and found that it rendered “vigilante” security services to farmers without being registered in terms of the Private Security Industry Regulation Act.

They said the bequest was contrary to public policy because BL’s fundamental purpose was to undo, through unlawful means, the prescripts of the Constitution.

The BL, they said, was in substance and effect, a paramilitary civil defence organisation mired in racial hatred and the bequest would be used to provide further training at its camps and further its messages of racial hatred and separation and radicalising people.

In its answering affidavit, BL submitted that it is dormant because it is not yet registered.

However, the organisation said it provided security and training services to communities in collaboration with SAPS. It denied that it was a white supremacist organisation, claiming that while it was started by white Afrikaners, 15% of its members were now from black communities.

It said it only dealt with “criminals” and that “obedience to laws” was not a requirement to receive a bequest.

Judge Allie said the organisation was attempting to glorify the apartheid government.

“Stripped of all of its ostensible niceties, white nationalism is the belief that national identity should be built around white ethnicity and that white people should maintain a superior dominance over the country’s culture and ethos.”

She said for white nationalism to gain traction, it fostered a false narrative of a threat to cultural identity.

The fear mongering took the form of persuading white people that farm murders were the start of a white genocide and the BL’s use of these tactics and activities, such as training paramilitary and vigilante groups, was in violation of the law, Judge Allie said.

Not only was the BL not registered as a security provider, the Constitution also only permitted one army, the SANDF, and did not permit racist, discriminatory and exclusionary activity.

There was also no legal provision which enabled the BL to “deal with criminals”.

Judge Allie said its manifesto was clearly discriminatory and a violation of the Bill of Rights. Its manifesto, webpage and videos also violated the Constitution which expressly prohibited expression that propagates war, incites violence and advocates hatred based on race.

“Expressions of the nature described above cannot find protection under freedom of speech nor under cultural expression. They remain contrary to public policy and therefore, also contrary to the common law,” Judge Allie said.

She said common law provided for a declaration of unenforceability where a provision in a will would fund unlawful and discriminatory activities and was contrary to public policy.

She said Bray’s will was also void because it was unclear which organisation had been left the bequest.

She declared the bequest to be invalid, ruled that the assets in question be distributed through intestate succession, and ordered BL to pay the costs of the application.

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