Over calls made by the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party in South Africa, Julius Malema, on his supporters to occupy unused land wherever they find it, a court has barred him from such calls.

According to Ceoafrica, the High Court in Pretoria granted a request filed by the Afrikaner civil rights lobby group AfriForum to prevent Mr Malema from encouraging land invasions.

AfriForum complained that Mr Malema had continued his call for people to take land without compensation even after it had approached the court last November, with a request for him to stop.

After today’s court ruling, AfriForum said if Mr Malema made any more statements calling for land grabs he would be in contempt of court.

The EFF says its policy on land restitution is to correct the imbalance of ownership created by apartheid with “expropriation of land without compensation”.

The governing African National Congress (ANC) also supports land expropriation but with compensation.

Last year, soon after appearing at a court in the KwaZulu Natal town of Newcastle, Mr Malema told the crowd waiting outside: "When we leave here, you see any piece of beautiful land, you like it, occupy it!

"It belongs to you! It is your land! It is the land of your forefathers! It is the land that was taken from us by white people by force".