The Citizen has been tracking a worrying Facebook group started by an anonymous user that has been pushing a racist and violent anti-black agenda, and which on Saturday referred to Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema as a loudmouthed “kaffer”.

On Saturday, the same group administrator also referenced this abusive word in reference to a story that was published by The Citizen in which Malema appeared to backtrack on the idea that he was anti-white.

Usage of the k-word word in an abusive manner is in effect illegal in South Africa, which estate agent Vicki Momberg recently learnt after being imprisoned for using the word on policemen in 2016.

However, this is only one small part of what happens in the group, which was originally started as a private group called “Die Waarheid/Truth About Blacks”, but it has since changed its name to “Suid Afrika vir Volk en Vaderland” while also changing its settings to secret.

Nevertheless, we were able to join quite easily, no doubt because we have white and Afrikaans-sounding names ourselves.

Although the primary person who runs the group is effectively anonymous, going by the pseudonym Boeremeisie Retief (complete with a fake profile picture of a sexy blonde girl that appears to have fooled many men), most of the users who have joined the group and who post offensive racist comments in it are not anonymous.

The other administrator is a certain Flippie Potgieter.

The group describes itself as a place where the truth about South Africa and black people, especially relating to government failures and farm attacks and murders, can be discussed. Since its inception on 27 March, the group has attracted about 1 500 members. It has also started a WhatsApp group chat.

By pure coincidence, one of the members of the group was messaging The Citizen this week to ask us why we supposedly don’t report on farm murders (which is not true) and don’t take it seriously (also not true).

Prominent issues raised in the group include farm attacks and murders, concerns about race mixing, former president Nelson Mandela’s reign in which he alleged incited terrorism, general celebration at the death of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and numerous references to neo-Nazi beliefs and tributes to Adolf Hitler.

One post refers to the Boeremag as political prisoners and calls for their release.

There have been numerous calls for mobilisation and questions about which of the men in the group are willing to fight and die for their rights, particularly by killing black people. The men with military training are accorded greater respect.

Although they don’t outright call for war to break out, they appear to believe it is inevitable and the administrator tells one member that when that happens black lives will inevitably have to be taken.

The group appears to be a perversion of concerns in South Africa about crime and the growing sense of anger among some white landowners that they may have to cede land ownership to government through expropriation without compensation, which Malema has become the biggest proponent of.

The members also share posts of racist actions and statements from black people, which are posted in apparent justification of further racism and hate speech.

Almost every post either borders on hate speech or fully embodies it. The comments that follow, which are often made by people using their personal accounts, are regularly just as racist, or even more so, than the original post.

One post, for example, took exception to a black man joking that he’d given a white man a lift on the back of his bakkie in a supposed reversal of the normal power roles in rural areas.

Members have also been incensed about the alleged sanctification of Madikizela-Mandela that has been taking place since her death on Monday.

Take a look at some of the screengrabs from the group since its inception (pardon some of the dodgy Facebook translate phrases, but you’ll get the general idea).

On 2 April, Boeremeisie Retief was blocked from accessing Facebook for 24 hours. This set off yet another host of racist comments from both herself and her supporters.

The group’s very existence breaches some of Facebook’s terms and conditions. It has somehow slipped through the cracks of Facebook’s policies to prevent prejudice and hate speech on its platform. It is difficult to get comment from Facebook on how they monitor these things, but according to its own policies regarding what page names are allowed on Facebook, the first point made reads that page names cannot include “terms or phrases that may be abusive or violate someone’s rights”.

Facebook is, however, generally more concerned with removing a page name if it infringes on a trademark already owned by someone else. There are reportedly thousands of racist or prejudiced and groups already on Facebook and which continue to exist.

According to Facebook, no content may infringe on or violate anyone else’s rights, or the law. Facebook can remove any content or information posted if they believe it is violating these precepts.

Although the Hate Speech Bill has not yet officially been passed, the comments witnessed in the Suid Afrika vir Volk en Vaderland group nevertheless go against the constitution.

“No person may publish, propagate, advocate or communicate words based on one or more of the prohibited grounds, against any person, that could reasonably be construed to demonstrate a clear intention to – be hurtful, be harmful or incite harm, promote or propagate hatred,” according to the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act 4 of 2000.

Admission into the Facebook group is screened according to race – there are no members of colour and black Citizen team members who attempted to join the group were not admitted.

Until Saturday, there were numerous warnings among group members that they should refrain from using the k-word (with numerous veiled alternatives being suggested), but that clearly became too much to resist.

It’s unclear whether Facebook will continue to allow the group to use its services.