Western Cape court rules Julius Malema’s call to “kill racists” was hate speech, warning of dangerous incitement to violence.
EFF leader Julius Malema was yesterday found guilty of hate speech by the Western Cape Equality Court in Cape Town.
This follows an incendiary speech at an EFF rally in Cape Town in 2022 in which he told supporters that they must “never be scared to kill” and that “any racist” who attacked EFF members or leaders “is an application to meet your maker with immediate effect”.
Malema’s remarks came two years after a violent encounter between EFF members and parents of children at a school in Brackenfell, Cape Town, in a protest over alleged racism.
Call to “kill racists” was hate speech – court
He also said: “A revolution demands at some point there must be killing because the killing is part of a revolutionary act.”
The case at the Equality Court was brought by the South African Human Rights Commission and a private individual.
Presiding Judge Mark Sher said in his findings that “to enlist the support of a mob and incite it to commit acts of violence, victims of hate speech are routinely accused of all manner of repugnant behaviour by those who vilify them.
ALSO READ: Equality Court finds Malema guilty of hate speech
“One only needs to recall what Jews, Muslims and Tutsis were accused of doing, so that hatred and genocide could be fomented against them,” he said.
“To call someone a racist in South Africa is, given our racially oppressive past, inevitably to invoke detestation, enmity, ill-will and malevolence against such a person.
“While calling out someone who behaves as a racist may be acceptable, calling for them to be killed is not. And calling for someone to be killed because they are a racist who has acted violently, is an act of vigilantism and an incitement of the most extreme form of harm possible.”
‘Potential to foment racial violence on a large scale’
Sher added: “When such a call emanates from the leader of the then third- [now fourth-] largest political party in the country, it has the potential to foment racial violence on a large scale.”
As far as Malema’s defence arguments were concerned, Sher said: “Even if there is truth in an assertion that a person has acted in a reprehensible [in casu racist] manner, this cannot per se serve as a defence to a complaint of hate speech.”
The DA labelled the ruling a victory for the rule of law, for the constitution and for all South Africans who cherish the values of a free, fair, and non-racial society.
ALSO READ: Malema proposes solution to one-way migration of Nigerians to South Africa
“For too long, the world has watched as Julius Malema has incited violence, hatred and division, attempting to unstitch the very fabric of South African society,” said DA leader John Steenhuisen.
“His hate speech was most recently aired live from the White House in a meeting between US President Donald Trump, President Cyril Ramaphosa and a South African delegation.
“This type of divisive language is not just damaging on a local level, it has international repercussions as well. South Africa’s reputation on the global stage is at risk when such hatred is condoned or ignored.”
Cautioning political leaders to refrain from inflammatory rhetoric
The Inclusive Society Institute said it had “consistently cautioned political leaders to refrain from inflammatory rhetoric, particularly a speech that is racist in nature or that incites violence.
“As we argued in the context of slogans like ‘Kill the farmer, kill the Boer’, even when such speech may be found technically legal, it remains profoundly unwise in a society struggling with reconciliation and social cohesion. This case went further: it crossed the line into illegality, with direct incitements to violence and racially charged threats.”
The institute added: “ We call on all politicians, not only the EFF, to abandon divisive and reckless language. South Africa’s fragile social fabric cannot withstand leaders who normalise racism and violence. Such rhetoric has no place in our democracy.”
NOW READ: Polokwane municipality rejects Malema’s allegations about Zimbabweans getting jobs
