Ramaphosa not condemning ‘Kill the Boer’ smacks of ‘double standards’, AfriForum says

Lobby group AfriForum claims that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s “refusal” to condemn the chant “Kill the Boer, kill the farmer” reflects double standards.

Ramaphosa on Tuesday said that “Kill The Boer” is a “liberation chant” and should not be taken literally.

It came a week after US President Donald Trump confronted the South African president by playing videos of EFF leader Julius Malema chanting “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer,” using them to support his unfounded claim of genocide against whites in South Africa.

In response, AfriForum argued that the ANC-led government’s defence of the slogan, while passing judgment on similar rhetoric elsewhere in the world, highlighted inconsistencies in its interpretation of the United Nations’ Genocide Convention.

‘Double standards’

The lobby group based its statement on evidence presented by Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, a member of South Africa’s legal team, who led the genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in January 2024.

“Ngcukaitobi argued that ‘the intentional failure of the government of Israel to condemn, prevent and punish such genocidal incitement constitutes in itself a grave violation of the Genocide Convention,’” the lobby group said.

“Ngcukaitobi further argued that ‘this failure to condemn, prevent and punish such speech by the government has served to normalise genocidal rhetoric’ and has posed ‘extreme danger for Palestinians within Israeli society,’” AfriForum said.

AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel described this as a case of “double standard”.

“The ANC-led government’s defence of the ‘Kill the Boer’ slogan, while passing judgment about similar calls elsewhere in the world as an intent to commit genocide, is evidence of double standards in their interpretation of the Genocide Convention.

Kriel pointed out that “farm murder deniers” are trying “very hard to downplay the serious nature of farm murders” after Trump’s meeting with Ramaphosa.

“AfriForum has always focused on the serious nature of farm murders rather than engaging in semantic debates about the term ‘genocide’ but believes it has now become necessary to test the actions of Ramaphosa’s government against their own standards regarding the meaning of genocide”.

ALSO READ: Piers Morgan slams Ramaphosa for defending ‘Kill the Boer’ chant [VIDEO]

AfriForum defeat

In March, AfriForum suffered a final blow in its attempt to have the controversial chant “Kill the Boer, kill the farmer” declared as hate speech.

The Constitutional Court (ConCourt) delivered a brief ruling dismissing AfriForum’s application for leave to appeal.

The Apex concluded that the application “bears no reasonable prospects of success”.

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