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Barbed wire and battle cries: AfriForum vs EFF’s ‘Kill the Boer’ chant back in court
Sticking to their guns: In its next legal move, AfriForum has taken its fight against the EFF's provocative 'Kill the Boer' chant to appeal.
EFF leader Julius Malema during the party’s 10th anniversary celebration at FNB Stadium on 29 July 2023 in Johannesburg. Photo: Gallo Images/Frennie Shivambu
AfriForum appeared in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein on Monday in its bid to appeal the Equality Court’s ruling that chanting the controversial “Kill the Boer” song lyrics does not constitute hate speech or unfair discrimination.
As a safety precaution, the court was cordoned off with barbed wire, while supporters of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) defiantly sang “Kill the Boer” from the nearby Hertzog Square.
AfriForum ‘Kill the Boer’ appeal part of ‘three-pronged strategy’
AfriForum is seeking an interdict based on its stance that the song is a clear-cut example of hate speech and endangers South African farmers.
Kallie Kriel, the CEO of the civil rights organisation, said this week’s court case forms part of AfriForum’s three-pronged strategy to oppose EFF leader Julius Malema’s “extremist, hateful and dangerous rhetoric, namely, through legal actions, the mobilisation and expansion of community safety structures and the promotion of mutual recognition and respect between cultural communities”.
“It’s troubling that there are still people out there making excuses for the hateful ‘Kill the Boer’ chant. It is evident however that public opinion has started to shift drastically against thugs like the EFF and their encouragement of lawlessness, hatred, and violence,” Kriel concluded.
ALSO READ: ‘It’s not my song’: Malema hits back at outrage ‘sponsored by Helen Zille’ over ‘Kill the Boer’
Appeal against Equality Court ruling
The appeal follows last year’s Equality Court judgment by which Judge Edwin Molahleh ruled that protected by freedom of speech and that AfriForum had “failed to show that the lyrics in the songs could reasonably be construed to demonstrate a clear intention to harm or incite to harm and propagate hatred”.
“Before democracy, the song was directed at the apartheid regime, and more particularly to the dispossession of the land of the majority of the members of the society by the colonial powers,” Molahleh said.
Brief history of ‘Kill the Boer’
“Kill the Boer”, also known as Dubula iBhunu, was popularised in the early 1990s by former African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president Peter Mokaba.
According to Forbes, the ANC vowed in 2012 to no longer sing the song, following controversy stemming from claims the song was related to a series of violent attacks on white farmers, and expelled Malema that same year in an effort to ease racial tensions in the country.
AfriForum vs Malema and the EFF
AfriForum initiated the case against the EFF and Malema after supporters chanted the song’s slogan outside the Senekal Magistrate’s Court in October 2020 during the appearance of the accused in the murder of 21-year-old farm manager Brendin Horner.
When he took the stand in 2022 during AfriForum’s civil case against him, his party and EFF MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi for singing “Kill the Boer” on various occasions, Malema told the court in his defence that the lyrics should not be interpreted literally.
He further claimed that he chanted “Shoot to kill, kiss the Boer, kiss the farmer” and not “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer”.
Hate speech finding
In 2011, Johannesburg High Court Judge Colin Lamont (sitting as an Equality Court) found Malema guilty of “hate speech” for his continuous use of “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer” during his stint as president of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL).
Despite Malema’s appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal, the case was later withdrawn, with both parties opting for mediation.
Malema and ‘Kill the Boer’: EFF rally chant uproar
In July this year, Malema ended off his keynote address at the party’s 10th anniversary rally at Soweto’s FNB Stadium by chanting “Kill the Boer”, sparking a renewed wave of outrage with even Elon Musk seeing red.
The South African-born billionaire X’ed that the song promotes “white genocide”, while Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen expressed the party’s intention to file charges against Malema with the United Nations Human Rights Council.
ALSO READ: Red flag: DA plans to take EFF to UN Human Rights Council over ‘Kill the Boer’ rally chant
‘Evidence’ of ‘horrific real-world effects’ – AfriForum
In the run-up to its appeal bid against the Equality Court judgment, AfriForum campaign officer for strategy and content, Ernst van Zyl, had the following to say:
“As the evidence keeps mounting that chants like ‘Kill the Boer’ in fact have horrific real-world effects, it becomes increasingly difficult for those excusing it to not appear apathetic to violent crime victims when they happen to be farmers.”
On AfriForum’s website, the civil rights organisation cites as an example the brutal attack on a Pietermaritzburg couple on their farm in the early morning hours of 17 August.
Tim Platt and his wife, Amanda, were severely assaulted when four attackers forced their way into their farmhouse allegedly shouting, “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer”.
Amanda was stabbed with a spear. While her husband was still trying to fight off the attackers, she managed to escape and returned armed to save her husband. Upon her return, the attackers had already fled.
SCA AfriForum appeal bid: Everything EFF said in defence of ‘Kill the Boer’
During Monday’s court proceedings, Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi SC, acting on behalf of the EFF, dismissed claims that there is any link between farm murders and “Kill the Boer”.
According to him, 89% of farm murders take place with robbery as primary motivation.
Ngcukaitobi added that this has been confirmed by the majority of victims.
He said Malema is also highly troubled by the crime rate in South Africa and stressed that the song has been used for “pure political reasons” and is not meant to incite genocide.
Ngcukaitobi further argued that the lyrics of “Kill the Boer” should not be taken literally.
“It should be viewed in context. South Africa boasts some clever people and they know what Malema actually is trying to say. It does not refer to race, but denotes oppression and apartheid.”
He told the court that, in context, it actually refers to the struggle for land and employment.
Judgment has been reserved.
