EFF leader Julius Malema has indicated to the Equality Court that his party had no plans to stop singing the “Dubul’ibunu/Shoot the Boer” song as it was meant for agitation and directed at the system and not white people and farmers as claimed by AfriForum.
“The songs are not taken in a literal meaning. They are understood to be chants that get to be sung at political gatherings for agitation,” he said.
Malema was on the stand before the Johannesburg-based court on Wednesday where AfriForum is accusing him and his party of hate speech and of inciting violence over the singing of the controversial struggle song.
AfriForum lawyer Adv Mark Oppenheimer accused Malema and those who sang the song of having personalised the song against farmers.
Malema replied: “We gave it a face. Every oppression and system has got a face. When you talk about a democratic SA, you have the face of Nelson Mandela. When you talk about an oppressive system that has stolen property from us, you will have Jan van Riebeeck and you will have ‘the farmer’ as the face,” he said.
He told Oppenheimer that the song’s name was not “Shoot the Boer/Kill the Boer” and that it, like other struggle songs, had no specific name.
“Struggle songs don’t have names. You can’t say ‘Mariah Carey-My Love’. They don’t work like that. We call all of them struggle songs.
Malema has over the years changed the lyrics of the song from “Kill the Boer” to “Kiss the Boer”, which he said was aimed at “irritating racists”.
While Oppenheimer described “kiss” in the song as a clear code for “kill”, he asked Malema what he meant.
Malema gestured a kiss and said “mncwaaa”, prompting laughter in the courtroom.
Malema said while he did not know the actual origins of the song, it had been taught to him by senior leaders of the ANC along with other struggle songs when he joined the struggle.
Inside court Malema was flanked by the party's officials, including national chairperson Veronica Mente, secretary-general Marshall Dlamini, his deputy Poppy Mailola and treasurer-general Omphile Maotwe while hundreds of party supporters camped at the court precinct on Prichard Street, which remained closed for most of the day.
Oppenheimer asked Malema how he was sure that his supporters understood that “kill the farmer” was not directed at white farmers.
Malema said: “They would have done it by now.”
EFF lawyer Adv Mfesane Ka-Siboto asked Malema if he shared any of the ideas espoused by the late ANC Youth League president Peter Mokaba, who was also accused by AfriForum leader Ernst Roets of inciting violence by singing the song in 1993.
“I share all of his ideas,” Malema said.
He said Mokaba had worked with many white people in the liberation struggle, who understood the context within which the liberation songs were sung.
“They understood. That is why they joined the struggle and could join in the singing of those songs. They understood that it is not directed at their skin colour,” Malema said.
Roets had told the court last week that there had been spikes in farm attacks after politicians, including Mokaba, former president Jacob Zuma and Malema had sung the song over the years.
Malema accused Roets of dragging him and the EFF to court to promote his “poorly researched” new book, Kill the Boer”.
He said Roets had “wasted court’s time to advertise his personal book at the expense of state resources by sitting here and keeping the court busy, promoting a book without thorough research”.
He said he would still openly sing the “Kill the Boer” song if he wanted.
“If I want to sing ‘Kill the Boer’ I will sing it. Anyone who sings it is well justified. It’s a struggle song and our struggle was not hate. It was a struggle for freedom,” he told the court.
Earlier, EFF national spokesperson Sinawo Tambo had pointed out that the EFF would continue to sing the “Shoot the Boer” song, even if it is declared hate speech by the courts as it was part of the heritage and liberation history of SA.
“If the court cannot prove a material link between the song and the killing of people in farms, that ruling will be very irrational and we cannot subscribe ourselves to irrational laws,” Tambo said.
