Julius Malema claims the hate speech court case against him is being driven by "whites opposed to black rule".
And he is adamant that he will not apologise "to some Mickey Mouses" for his comments that President Jacob Zuma's rape accuser enjoyed herself with him.
The anti-apartheid activist who brought the Equality Court complaint against Malema over his remarks yesterday hit back at the ANC Youth League president - and accused him of "playing the race card when he should be addressing the charges against him".
Mbuyiselo Botha, head of advocacy at the Sonke Gender Justice Network NGO, was 25 years old when he was shot by the apartheid police and left partially disabled.
Yesterday he said Malema's claims that his organisation was controlled by white racists was "pure rubbish that we don't want to dignify with a response".
"Fifteen years after the advent of our democracy, we can't allow Malema to keep up his nonsensical stereotyping and discrimination against women. There is an aura of untouchability about this man which is disturbing," he added.
Moments after he backed out of testifying at the Equality Court complaint brought against him by Sonke, and in apparent reference to Botha, Malema told his supporters: "The black faces you see in front are not really black they represent whites who are opposed to black rule."
He added that if Sonke had been a "real African" organisation, it would have resolved its issues with him without going to court. "We are in court because the whites who are sponsoring this organisation, they want to make sure they embarrass the leadership of this movement," he said.
Addressing his failure to testify in his own defence, Malema claimed the evidence led against him by Sonke "does not warrant us to take a stand".
Sonke laid a hate speech, harassment and discrimination charge against Malema after he told a gathering of Cape Peninsula University of Technology students that when a woman didn't enjoy sex, she would leave early in the morning.
"Those who had a nice time will wait until the sun comes out, request breakfast and ask for taxi money. In the morning, that lady (Zuma's rape accuser) requested breakfast and taxi money," Malema said.
"You can't ask for money from somebody who raped you," he said.
Malema's attorney, Tumi Mokwena, yesterday told magistrate Colleen Colis that his client had made his remarks in answer to questions about the rape allegations against Zuma.
"He was told 'you are campaigning for the ANC and the ANC has a presidential candidate, Jacob Zuma, a rapist. What do you say to that?' So of course he had to respond," he said.
Malema had then made his remarks based on the judgment that had resulted in Zuma's acquittal, Mokwena said.
His argument took a knock when rape expert Lisa Vetten used transcripts of the judgment to show it was Zuma who had offered his accuser taxi money in the evening after the alleged rape. The accuser had not asked for breakfast, but had taken food from Zuma's fridge.
Malema's distortion of the Zuma evidence, she said, appeared to be aimed at "trying to suggest there was some normal morning-after chitchat".
Mokwena on Friday attacked Vetten's qualifications and slammed her as "clearly biased" against his client.
Malema will return to the Equality Court on August 31, when his lawyers are expected to bring an application for the case to be thrown out of court.