Johannesburg - The legal battle between EFF and AfriForum over the singing of Kill the Boer turned rowdy and personal between Julius Malema and counsel for the lobby group in the Equality Court sitting in the South Gauteng High Court in Joburg.
The tensions intensified when Malema said white “settlers” came as visitors in South Africa in 1652 and subsequently decided to steal local minerals and land belonging to black people in the country.
During his testimony, Malema maintained that the majority of arable land was still under the control of white people.
In his line of questioning, advocate Mark Oppenheimer suggested that centuries had passed since the land was taken, saying the current generation should not be categorised as “land thieves”.
Malema said: “Yes they stole our land and passed it on to their children. Those children are also guilty of possession of stolen goods. Those that inherited stolen land are also guilty.”
Malema said: “Your people stole our land and were responsible for the mass killing of people in June 1976 in the 80s and 90s without shame.”
“They must pay for reparation like the Germans do now,” he said.
Malema further said the singing of the Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer song, or the revised version of Kiss the Boer, Kiss the Farmer did not lead to the killing of white farmers in South Africa despite protests from AfriForum.
Malema made the assertion while giving testimony for the second day in the Equality Court after the lobby group had alleged that his continuing singing of the song was contributing to the growing number of farm murders.
In this case, Malema was charged in his capacity as president of the EFF which was founded in July 2013. He was charged along with party’s MP Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi and the party. AfriForum wants all of them to publicly apologise and collectively pay an amount of R500 000 to an non-governmental organisation combating hatred.
AfriForum used case studies of farm killings, some of which happened prior to the formation of the EFF, to justify their claim against Malema and his party.
One of the cases involved the murder of a 79-year-old woman and her daughter on their farm outside Welkom in the Free State on March 7, 2010. Malema was also questioned about some of the farm murders contained in the book, Kill The Boer: Government complicity in South Africa’s brutal farm murders, written by AfriForum’s head of policy Ernst Roets.
In one of the case studies, Roets alleges that in one of the farm murders, the alleged attackers used the blood of their victims to paint graffiti on their walls saying “Kill the Boers” and “Viva Malema”.
In cross examining Malema, Oppenheimer said these incidents were enough proof that the singing of the song had prompted the killing of white farmers - a claim Malema denied.
“The book does not give proof that the suspects were arrested and convicted in a court of law on the basis that they were persuaded by the song to commit such a criminal act. I classify that killing as a criminal act. There is no proof that the killers were members of the EFF.
“What if it was another farmer who wanted to divert attention from the real culprit and recreate the murder scene as if it was committed by persons linked to the EFF?” Malema asked.
He also reiterated in court that the song predated the EFF, saying: “It is a struggle song. It belongs to the struggle.”
Counsel for EFF Adv Mfesane Ka-Siboto is expected to call an expert witness today to corroborate Malema’s view that songs do not instigate violent crimes in African culture.
Political Bureau
Note: In this article, we erroneously referred to the late mining magnate Ernest Oppenheimer as the great grandfather to advocate Mark Oppenheimer. We would like to put it on record that the two individuals are not related. We unreservedly apologise to the Oppenheimer Family and advocate Oppenheimer for the error and any inconvenience caused. We have since updated the article with the correct details.
*This article was updated on 16 March 2022 at 12:20pm