Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has dismissed concerns that he has created an international storm by chanting “Killer the Boer, Kill the Farmer” at the party’s 10th-anniversary celebration at FNB Stadium in Soweto over the weekend, saying the courts have exonerated him.
The chant grabbed headlines globally, prompting Twitter owner Elon Musk to allege that the EFF was calling for a genocide of white people while President Cyril Ramaphosa kept quiet.
Moreover, Malema attacked the Democratic Alliance federal council chairperson Helen Zille, accusing her of sponsoring outrage on social media and luring black people into fighting against the EFF.
During an EFF media conference on Wednesday, Malema did not mince his words when asked if he was not at all concerned that the chant had the potential to cause violence.
“If this song had any negative connotation and incitement, it should have done it in the 90s. It had all the reasons to do it in the 90s and it still hasn’t done. So, why would it do it now? It couldn’t do it when De Klerk was killing our people in Boipatong. That is where this song should have incited violence, but it still didn’t.
“To say to us, ‘don’t sing this song because it belongs to the 90s,’ you are asking me to forget my history; I will not do that. This song is part of my history. I use this song to remind myself of what we have gone through,” he said.
Malema said using words such as Boers and farmers was a poetic reference to the oppressive system of the past, which persists to date.
“We used to refer to the police as boers. When the police entered our township in Seshego, there were black police officers, but when we ran we said ‘the boers are here.’ Anything that represented the system was referred to as the boers. Even a black person was referred to as a Boer because he belonged to the system in the form of a police person.
“From its inception, the song has never been targeted at individuals. It has always been targeted at the system of oppression, and our people understand it for what it is. If we had [the] intention to kill anyone, we had 100 000 people under our nose. After chanting it, we would have all left that stadium in unison to go and kill the white people,” Malema added.
Malema also went for popular YouTube podcaster Penuel Mlotshwa, who suggested that the EFF leader should “educate Elon Musk” on the history of the chant and that the party membership should only do the chant in smaller gatherings.
“I saw some MacG wanna-be, one of those podcast people who failed, with very low followers, says I must educate Elon Musk. Why must I educate Elon Musk? He looks like an illiterate. The only thing that protects him is his white skin.
“[If] Elon Musk wants to learn about this [chant]; the records are there in court. Let him go and read the judgement. Let him go and read about my judgement in court. I argued successfully and paralysed the grandchild of Oppenheimer and said to him, ‘If I were AfriForum, I was going to fire you from this case.’ When they did the appeal, they fired him in line with what I said,” said Malema.
Zille was not spared the verbal onslaught either.
“I won in court. The court said there is nothing wrong with singing ‘Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer.’ When do we respect the judgements of the courts, and when do we disrespect them? When they favour Helen Zille, we must respect them. When they don’t favour Helen Zille, we must not respect them.
“There is a court decision that must be respected. Those who have appealed it must go and fight it in court. We will continue to sing this song in line with the decision of the court. An independent court has made a declaration on this matter, and it’s closed,” he said.
Malema added that Zille was sponsoring outrage on social media, luring black people into fighting against the EFF.
“There are some clever blacks who are told by Helen Zille to get angry. They wait for a magogo with a wrinkled Botox face. That is the face of a devil. If Helen Zille was genuinely opposed to this for real, why didn’t Helen join the case? Why didn’t the DA join the case when I was taken to the Equality Court? I’m not going to over explain myself. This is not my song. It’s a struggle song,” he said.
This came after the DA accused Malema of inciting violence and hatred against white people following his singing of “kill the Boer” song at the EFF’s 10th anniversary rally at the FNB stadium last week.
“South Africa must reject Malema for the bloodthirsty tyrant and demagogue he really is!” said DA leader John Steenhuisen.
“The DA won’t allow Malema’s hatred and racism to be normalised. This is why the DA is taking action to stop him and the EFF’s violence.”
The EFF warned the DA against their planned march to the party’s Winnie Madikizela-Mandela headquarters on Marshall Street in Johannesburg.
“Racists want to march into our offices. This is not a playground; it’s a revolutionary house. That is why I told John Steenhuisen that ‘you are a small boy, the EFF is not ANC.’ Let John try those things that he has been doing of marching to the ANC. He must come and try it here.
“Here is not the place where we are scared of a white man. This is the only liberated zone in South Africa. No white man must come taking chances here. You can argue your politics wherever you are. We never go to anyone’s offices. We never interfere with anyone’s programmes, but we are not going to be undermined. We have everything we need to protect this office,” Malema said.
