The South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef) has defended senior journalist and TV host Karima Brown after EFF supporters sent threatening messages to her on her phone.

The attacks on Brown started on Tuesday night after EFF leader Julius Malema posted Brown's contact number on his Twitter timeline.

Brown mistakenly posted a watching brief meant for her eNCA colleagues to the EFF media WhatsApp group.

Malema posted a screengrab of the message on Twitter and wrote: "Karima Brown is sending moles to our breakfast with elders tomorrow, she incidentally sends the message to the @EFFSouthAfrica media WhatsApp group and deleted it immediately."

Brown complained that this resulted in her receiving threatening messages from Malema's supporters.

"Malema published the cell phone number of Brown and shortly thereafter his supporters began a barrage of insults against her – calling her, among other derogatory names, 'an Indian whore and bitch', and levelling insults, threatening her life, and accusing her of sending moles to spy on them. This after Brown accidentally posted a message on an EFF WhatsApp group. The message was meant for a journalist group instead," Sanef said in a statement.