Kill the boer not part of ANC Heritage

Is the controversial song urging the killing of “Boers” truly part of the ANC’s liberation struggle heritage, or are such claims simply an ingenuous, or perhaps sinister, attempt by the ANC leadership to defend its Youth League leader Julius Malema by distorting the historical truth? Or is the ANC itself trying to rewrite history after it accused the courts of doing so when two successive court rulings found the song to incite racial hatred – findings in line with one already made by the Human Rights Commission (HRC) as long ago as 2003? These are questions that come to the fore from an investigation into the origins of the controversial song, "Dubula iBhunu".

The truth seems to be that words to the same effect first were chanted in Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) circles in the early 1990s along with their infamous slogan of “one settler, one bullet”. Shortly thereafter, the late ANC youth leader Peter Mokaba borrowed the slogan and began chanting his “kill the Boer, kill the farmer” version in 1993 after the murder of ANC and Communist Party leader, Chris Hani.

In none of the sources on the origins of the song which could be identified, could any indication be found that the song has ever been part of the ANC repertoire of songs during the struggle days. Although the controversial song sung by Malema is claimed now to be a historical liberation struggle song, it was not included in a 2-CD history and recording of 25 freedom songs released in 2002. Senior ANC and former Umkhonto we Sizwe leaders, including Ronnie Kasrils, Baleka Mbete and Pallo Jordan among others, had collaborated in the production of the collection.

At the time of its release, the CD set was described as a collection of field recordings of songs and chants used in the liberation struggle, complemented by a radio documentary providing an overview of the songs, their history and context in the struggle. These songs were sung in ANC camps, at meetings, mass rallies, demonstrations and other gatherings. The set, it was said, was designed as an archival and historical document. Nowhere did it mention “kill the Boer, kill the farmer” or “shoot the Boer”.

All indications are that the slogan or chant and the song, or even songs that developed from it, originated with the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC). In August 1999, Thomas Ramaila told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that he had been a PAC operative and had been influenced by what he called a PAC slogan, namely “kill the farmer, kill the Boer” to kill a farmer, Neville Rudman. Most of Ramaila’s testimony and his amnesty application were rejected, but his reference to the slogan was not. The slogan/song in any version was used first in circles associated with the PAC in the early 1990s, although the PAC never officially took ownership of it and, after the first democratic elections of 1994, distanced itself from it. At almost the same time, the ANC’s Mokaba began using the slogan in 1993 when the armed struggle for all intents and purposes was a thing of the past.

In that same year, a large crowd of PAC supporters marched through Cape Town’s Kenilworth and Claremont suburbs, demanding the release of PAC members who had been arrested in connection with the massacre of 11 churchgoers at the St. James Church and chanted “kill the Boer, kill the farmer”, “one settler, one bullet” and “one church, one bomb”. Also in 1993, at a rally in Tembisa near Johannesburg, both Mokaba and a PAC representative used these or similar words in speeches to the large crowd. Mokaba reportedly also urged the crowd to direct their “bullets” at then president FW de Klerk, declaring that he hated De Klerk. To which the PAC representative added, “war against the enemy... kill them”.

In March this year, a former participant in an August 1993 march (called “Operation Barcelona”) against increased exam fees in Cape Town, wrote in a comment to an article on the Internet, that he was among PASO (PAC student wing) students in the march who chanted “kill the Boer, kill the farmer” immediately before American student Amy Biehl was killed by members of that mob.

In 2002, then president Thabo Mbeki, as president of the ANC, and in 2003 then ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe - who is now ANC deputy president - firmly and unambiguously distanced the ANC from any such song or slogan, saying it had never been, and would never be, a part of the ANC. No claim was made then that it – in any form - ever had been an ANC liberation struggle song. That is until now, when, in March this year, Malema began singing a generic version of Mokaba’s chant. Suddenly senior ANC leaders, among them secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, are claiming this to be an old ANC liberation struggle song that apparently never was sung to incite violence against white farmers or whites in general, but was aimed against the apartheid regime.

Mcebisi Ndletyana, senior researcher at the Human Science Research Council - in another defence of the song and attack on the judges who ruled against its use in an article in "The Sunday Independent" - claims the song embodies black hatred of “whiteness”, but not of people of European descent... with a very wooly explaination of what the difference is intended to be.

No documentary or other evidence could be found that the chant or related songs were indeed ANC liberation songs before 1993, when the liberation struggle was practically over and constitutional negotiations in full swing. The Mokaba chant of “kill the farmer, kill the Boer” was next heard in June 2002 at an ANC Youth League meeting in Kimberley, and at Mokaba’s funeral in Limpopo. The funeral was attended by prominent ANC leaders, including Nelson Mandela and Mbeki, and the chanting was stopped immediately.

The Freedom Front lodged a complaint of hate speech with the HRC, which subsequently rejected it. However Mbeki, as president of the ANC and the country at the time, on 19 June of that year told Parliament: “Nobody in our country has a right to call for the killing of any South African, whatever the colour, race, ethnic origin, gender or health condition of the intended victim. Those farmers and boers are as much South African and African as I am...”

In June 2003, the HRC, chaired by Professor Karthy Govender, assisted by Professor Henk Botha and Mr Khashane Manamela, heard an appeal by the Freedom Front against the earlier HRC ruling. In their decision, delivered on 15 July, they overturned the earlier HRC ruling and found that the slogan "Kill the farmer, kill the boer" as chanted at the ANC youth rally in Kimberley and at the funeral of Mokaba constituted hate speech as defined in section 16(2)(c) of the Constitution.

What is even more interesting is that part of the record of submissions made to the HRC at the time contains a letter from Motlanthe, then ANC secretary-general, stating that the ‘’utterance has never been, cannot and will never be a slogan of the ANC, not used by the ANC at all.’’ The logical assumption then is that, according to Motlanthe, it was not part of the ANC’s liberation struggle heritage.

Source: Leadership online

ANC to challenge 'shoot the boer' ban

A high-court ban on the words "shoot the boer" was met with mixed reaction on Friday. While the African National Congress was shocked at the ruling and vowed to challenge it in the Constitutional Court, the Afrikanerbond and Freedom Front Plus welcomed it.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Friday that the Johannesburg High Court had ruled the use of the words "dubul' ibhunu [shoot the boer]" was unconstitutional and unlawful. Delmas businessman Willem Harmse had applied for an urgent interdict to prevent his colleague Mahomed Vawda from using the words on banners and singing them during a planned march against crime. While Harmse argued that the words perpetuated hate speech and incited hatred, Vawda contended that they referred to the symbolic killing of apartheid.

The ANC, which reportedly intends appealing against the judgement, expressed astonishment at the court's failure to approach it for input on the history and purpose of the struggle song Ayesaba Amagwala [The Cowards are Scared]. The song's lyrics include the words: "aw dubul' ibhunu [shoot the boer] 'a magwala [the cowards are scared] dubula dubula [shoot shoot]". The ANC believed that, had its input been sought, the court would have reached a different conclusion. Earlier this month, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe cautioned against "systematically erasing history", and said the interpretation of the song had been "vulgarised". "It's an old struggle song. Anybody who relegates it into hate speech today ... I will regard that as a serious attempt to erase our history. If you try to erase the history through courts, that would be unfortunate to the country."

Complaints have recently been laid against ANC Youth League president Julius Malema with the Equality Court and the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) over his repeated singing of the song in public. The Freedom Front Plus viewed the ANC's contention that the words be seen in the struggle context as "totally unacceptable". "Mr Malema was nine-years-old when [former president Nelson] Mandela was freed. He was never really part of the 'struggle'. If he sang the song today, it has to be judged in the context of 2010 and the fact that farmers are being killed weekly," the party said in a statement.

The Afrikanerbond now wants the SAHRC to decide whether the song constitutes incitement to violence and hate speech. Its chief secretary Jan Bosman said it hoped the ruling was "a first step in forcing politicians to think about pronouncements that create the potential for conflict".

Source: Mail & Guardian

Malema gagged

ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema has been muzzled - on the same day that another youth movement threatened to kill him. If Malema is caught singing Dubula ibhunu (Kill the boer), he could be arrested and charged with inciting murder.

Yesterday, in a landmark ruling slated by the ANC, Acting Johannesburg High Court Judge Leon Halgryn declared the singing and publication of the song "unconstitutional and unlawful" and said any person found in violation of the court order could face charges of incitement to murder. And, after Malema claimed Sharpeville had been hijacked by the Pan Africanist Congress on the 50th anniversary of the massacre, the PAC Youth Congress told Malema to apologise or end up "in a hospital or a mortuary".

Yesterday's urgent application had been brought by Willem Harmse, who insinuated that Malema's singing of the song in public had increased farm murders. The Freedom Front Plus also laid a charge of incitement in the Equality Court. Harmse's application was opposed by fellow Mpumalanga businessman Muhammed Vawda, who, in his replying affidavits, argued that the song was not an assault on white people, but on apartheid. He said the song means "kill apartheid".

Judge Halgryn ordered "that the utterance and/publication of the words 'Dubula Ibhunu' is unconstitutional and unlawful. Dubula Ibhunu translated means 'shoot the boer/ white man'. The publication and chanting of the words 'dubula ibhunu' prima facie satisfies the crime of incitement". Harmse and Vawda, both members of the Society for the Protection of Our Constitution, embraced outside court after the ruling and vowed to continue with their campaign. Harmse hailed the verdict, asking: "How would Malema feel if I sing the song 'kill the black man'?"

Freedom Front Plus Leader Pieter Mulder welcomed the decision, saying it would strengthen their case against Malema in the Equality Court.

The ANC has briefed its lawyers to fight the ruling at the Constitutional Court. Party spokesman Jackson Mthembu accused the Johannesburg High Court of failing to call the ANC as an expert witness and therefore coming to the wrong conclusion. "We believe this song, like many others that were sung during the struggle days, is part of our history and heritage. It will be very unfortunate if through our courts our history and heritage were outlawed."

Source: IoL

ANC fears for Malema's life

The ANC said on Friday it believes the Freedom Front Plus's campaign against its youth league leader Julius Malema could lead to his assassination. "As the ANC, we draw the conclusion that it (the campaign) is meant to incite, instigate and mobilise some people to harm and even lead to the execution of the ANCYL president," said ANC spokesman Ishmael Mnisi in a statement. "The campaign is meant to incite the South African populace, particularly the Afrikaner community, against the president of the youth league."

The ANC said the FF Plus was putting Malema's "personal safety and security" in danger, especially considering that "right-wing elements" had been responsible for killing SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani in the early 1990s. "The ANC would not like a repeat of what happened to Chris Hani to happen to Julius Malema," said another ANC spokesman, Jackson Mthembu.

Meanwhile, Ernst Roets, national chairman of AfriForum Youth, a human rights organisation, said members of the ANCYL yesterday scattered a list of names of more than 1 600 victims of farm murders, handed to them by AfriForum Youth, in the street in front of their offices in Luthuli House, central Joburg, trampled on them and tore them up. AfriForum has drawn up a list of farm murders to show that Malema's recent singing of "shoot the boer" could have consequences. Malema sang it at his birthday celebration in Polokwane and at a student gathering in Joburg earlier this month. Roets said Malema had also threatened AfriForum Youth with death, saying they would be the next "Shell House massacre" - referring to the killing of 19 members of the IFP on March 28, 1994, who were shot while protesting outside the ANC's former Joburg offices.

Roets said he met Malema yesterday afternoon to finalise the logistical details of a protest action outside Luthuli House. During the discussion, Malema had said he would shoot at AfriForum Youth if the march went ahead. Instead, Roets said, a small number of representatives, comprising himself, Kallie Kriel, Steve Hofmeyr, Gerrie Pretorius and Sean Else, went to Luthuli House with the memorandum. "It is extremely perturbing that they actually trod on the names of the murder victims. It might just as well have been Robert Mugabe meeting us today..." Roets added.

Meanwhile, the FF Plus launched a Prosecute Malema campaign on Thursday, according to its parliamentary spokesman Anton Alberts. The campaign consists of the gathering of signatures via e-mail and through a website, where a protest letter can be signed. These will be presented to President Jacob Zuma. FF Plus chief whip Corne Mulder said it was ironic that the ANC had laid a charge against the party's campaign because they were worried about Malema's safety. "It shows no real understanding for the thousands of farmers who have been murdered."

SA Human Rights Commission chairman Lawrence Mushwana told the Saturday Star this week that the commission had not yet taken a decision regarding the complaints. He said he was compelled to await the outcome of the Equality Court case against Malema, brought last week by the Afrikanerbond. But constitutional expert Pierre de Vos, from the University of Cape Town, said the commission could continue with its own investigation and could even make pronouncements based on past precedents, like its pronouncement as hate speech three years ago against former ANCYL leader Peter Mokaba's chant "kill the farmer, kill the boer".

Source: IoL

Also see:
'Kill the Boer' slogan led to murders
Parties unite against Mokaba 'hate speech'
Mbeki speaks out against 'kill boer' slogan
Farmers hail Mbeki's 'kill the boer' stance

Leaders’ Lavishness Gives Rise to ‘Lifestyle Audits’

Jacob Zuma, the president of South Africa, has 20 children, three wives and a fiancée. Recently, the matter of how he supports this large and widely dispersed family has been vigorously questioned. Indeed, the finances of everyone in government are suddenly viewed with a skepticism that often drifts into contempt. Zwelinzima Vavi, a labor leader and longtime ally of Mr. Zuma’s, is calling for “lifestyle audits” of all senior officials to surmise who is on the take and just how much they are taking.

For years, people have noticed a mismatch between the income and the outgo of many within the governing African National Congress. The A.N.C. is the party of Nelson Mandela, the organization that liberated the country from apartheid, the home of many heroes now struggling to get rich. In his novel “Black Diamond,” Zakes Mda, one of the nation’s leading writers, wryly observed, “In this brave new world, accumulation of personal wealth is dressed up in militarism, as if capitalism is the continuation of the guerrilla warfare that was fought during apartheid.”

The catalyst for the current demand for accounting is not Mr. Zuma but rather the second most quoted member of the A.N.C., the leader of its youth league, Julius Malema. A virtual unknown two years ago, Mr. Malema, 29, is a young man seemingly unwise beyond his years. His A.N.C. comrades could perhaps tolerate his abuse of political opponents, enjoying how he denounced them as Satanists or demeaned the women as too ugly to marry. He recently insulted the country’s Afrikaner minority by leading students in the old struggle chant, “Kill the farmer, kill the Boer.” In a nation where the police say 861 white farmers have been killed since 2001, some deemed this sing-along insensitive to say the least. But Mr. Malema has also turned his tongue on veteran A.N.C. stalwarts, particularly leaders of the party’s alliance partners, the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions, calling them reactionaries. He said the Communists presented themselves as champions of the working class while “they spend most of their time drinking red wine.”

Mr. Malema is popular in the townships, where most young people delight in the entertainment value of his scalding wit. But he is increasingly despised within his own party’s hierarchy and now claims that several A.N.C. leaders are out to “smear” him. This hardly seems implausible. For a long time, people have wondered how a young man with an impoverished past has collected enough cash to own a fine home in the Johannesburg suburbs. Mr. Malema serves Johnnie Walker Red Label whisky and Moët & Chandon Champagne at his parties. He wears Gucci suits and a Breitling watch. He walks through poor communities in designer jeans.

In a single weekend last month, three major newspapers published exposés about Mr. Malema, asserting that he has amassed a fortune through government contracts steered to businesses in which he owns an interest. According to The City Press, one company, SGL Engineering Projects, which listed Mr. Malema as a director, won $20 million in contracts from municipalities in Mr. Malema’s home province. The company’s earnings have multiplied in just the past two years, even though its work has often been found shoddy, news reports said. These simultaneous revelations may have been a case of coincidental sleuthing — or perhaps closely timed leaks from well-informed enemies. Under pressure to respond, Mr. Malema, speaking through his attorney, said that in 2008 he resigned his directorships in all companies. He insisted that he was unaware that he currently held a position in SGL.

Mr. Zuma has routinely supported his pugnacious acolyte, and this time was no different. “I’m not sure Malema has no right to business, on what basis I don’t know,” the president said. But blood was in the water, and soon the call for lifestyle audits stretched into the presidency itself. Mr. Zuma said such invasive accounting was unnecessary, arguing that by law government officials already were obligated to disclose their business interests, gifts and assets. The president was correct about that. In fact, by law he was supposed to report the details of his finances within 60 days of assuming office. He was inaugurated 10 months ago but had yet to comply with the ethics code.

Last Wednesday, a week after the news media finally awakened to Mr. Zuma’s non-compliance — and after even some political allies had joined political adversaries in their disapproval — the president submitted an accounting of his holdings, though the extent of that disclosure has yet to become public. As to how he supports all those dependents, part of the answer emerged Tuesday when Collins Chabane, a minister within the presidency, said the government provided more than $2 million a year for “spousal” support. The examples he gave were for expenses relating to the duties of Mr. Zuma’s wives in their capacities as first ladies, such as secretaries, air travel, cellphones and computers. No details were given regarding government support for the president’s children. The payment of Mr. Zuma’s bills has been an issue before. In 2005, a close friend and financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, was found guilty of bribing Mr. Zuma in return for help in various business deals. The moneybags were open for items big and small: vacations, medical bills, even the allowance for Mr. Zuma’s children. The trial judge said the two had a “mutually beneficial symbiosis.”

Mr. Zuma was later charged with 16 counts of fraud, corruption and racketeering. He avoided a trial when prosecutors dismissed the case because of misconduct within their ranks, just weeks before he was sworn in as president.

Mr. Shaik, sentenced to 15 years, spent only 28 months in jail before being freed on medical parole in March 2009. At the time, he was said to be near death, though he has since been observed driving around Durban in his BMW X6. That is not the automobile Mr. Malema prefers. He sits behind the wheel of a black C63 Mercedes-Benz AMG.

Source: New York Times

Malema faces fresh charges

Embattled ANC Youth League President Julius Malema's legal woes are set to continue after fresh charges of hate speech were filed against him with the Equality Court on Monday, just hours after the court found him guilty of hate speech that demeaned women. The new charges relate to Malema's singing of the song "dubul'ibhunu" (shoot the Boer), which sparked an uproar.

Civil rights group Afriforum Youth is planning to march on the ANC's headquarters, at Luthuli House on Friday. Afriforum chairman Ernst Roets confirmed filing the new case against the youth leader and the ANC on Monday. The organisation said it had added the ANC as a respondent to the case because the ruling party had defended Malema's singing of the song. Afriforum wants the court to ban the song, order Malema to publicly apologise and be fined.

Source: IoL

The relevant provisions are:

PROMOTION OF EQUALITY AND PREVENTION OF UNFAIR DISCRIMINATION ACT 4 OF 2000

Section 9 of the Constitution

Section 15 of the Constitution

Of equal importants is Schedule 1 of the CRIMINAL PROCEDURES ACT 51 OF 1977; particularly the crime of incitement to commit any offence referred to in Schedule 1.

The relevent offences are:

Treason: the action of betraying the values of the Constitution of South Africa;
Sedition: conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the values of the Constitution of South Africa;
Public violence: Public behaviour involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something;
Murder: the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another.

Of equal relevance is the PROTECTION OF CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY AGAINST TERRORIST AND RELATED ACTIVITIES ACT 33 OF 2004

A TERRORIST ACTIVITY is ...

(a) any act committed in or outside the Republic, which -

i) involves the systematic, repeated or arbitrary use of violence by any means or method;

(ii) involves the systematic, repeated or arbitrary release into the environment or any part of it or distributing or exposing the public or any part of it to -

(aa) any dangerous, hazardous, radioactive or harmful substance or organism;

(bb) any toxic chemical; or

(cc) any microbial or other biological agent or toxin;

(iii) endangers the life, or violates the physical integrity or physical freedom of, or causes serious bodily injury to or the death of, any person, or any number of persons;

(iv) causes serious risk to the health or safety of the public or any segment of the public;

(v) causes the destruction of or substantial damage to any property, natural resource, or the environmental or cultural heritage, whether public or private;

(vi) is designed or calculated to cause serious interference with or serious disruption of an essential service, facility or system, or the delivery of any such service, facility or system, whether public or private, including, but not limited to -

(aa) a system used for, or by, an electronic system, including an information system;

(bb) a telecommunication service or system;

(cc) a banking or financial service or financial system;

(dd) a system used for the delivery of essential government services;

(ee) a system used for, or by, an essential public utility or transport provider;

(ff) an essential infrastructure facility; or

(gg) any essential emergency services, such as police, medical or civil defence services;

(vii) causes any major economic loss or extensive destabilisation of an economic system or substantial devastation of the national economy of a country; or

(viii) creates a serious public emergency situation or a general insurrection in the Republic, whether the harm contemplated in paragraphs (a)(i) to (vii) is or may be suffered in or outside the Republic, and whether the activity referred to in subparagraphs (ii) to (viii) was committed by way of any means or method; and

(b) which is intended, or by its nature and context, can reasonably be regarded as being intended, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, to -

(i) threaten the unity and territorial integrity of the Republic;

(ii) intimidate, or to induce or cause feelings of insecurity within, the public, or a segment of the public, with regard to its security, including its economic security, or to induce, cause or spread feelings of terror, fear or panic in a civilian population; or

(iii) unduly compel, intimidate, force, coerce, induce or cause a person, a government, the general public or a segment of the public, or a domestic or an international organisation or body or intergovernmental organisation or body, to do or to abstain or refrain from doing any act, or to adopt or abandon a particular standpoint, or to act in accordance with certain principles, whether the public or the person, government, body, or organisation or institution referred to in subparagraphs (ii) or (iii), as the case may be, is inside or outside the Republic; and

(c) which is committed, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, for the purpose of the advancement of an individual or collective political, religious, ideological or philosophical motive, objective, cause or undertaking;

Malema blamed for farm attack

The accusations follow a farm attack in Colenso, Kwa-Zulu-Natal, on Sunday night during which a farmer was seriously wounded while his wife was shot dead. “Four men have been detained and they will be questioned by members of the Organised Crime Unit. They have not been charged,” said Superintendent Jay Naicker. The farmer, 70, was shot twice but he survived and was hospitalised, said Naicker. The farmer’s wife was shot dead. “The farmer was busy milking cows with his employees when they were approached by four armed men who demanded cash. The wife, 64, was shot dead and he was shot twice but he survived,” he said Naicker said the attackers did not take anything from the farmer and that the members of the Organised Crime Unit were investigating matter.

Malema sang the highly controversial “dubula ibhunu” (kill the boer) song while addressing students at the University of Johannesburg last week.

AfriForum Youth have lodged a complaint of hate speech against Malema in the Equality Court over the singing of the "kill the boer" song while the Freedom Front Plus has laid a criminal charge of intimidation and hate speech against Malema.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in KwaZulu-Natal has commended the police for arresting the suspects. “It is our belief that this senseless attack was incited by the proliferation of hate speech that is the hall mark of ANCYL president Julius Malema,” said DA spokesman on safety, Sizwe Mchunu.

He said Malema’s song “dubula ibhunu” (kill the boer) translated directly to a call for white people to be killed. “There can be no place in our democratic country for provocative language of this kind,” he said. Mchunu said co-operation between the police and the members of Estcourt farmers’ association and local community members had led to the swift arrest. “That the suspects have been arrested, less than 24 hours after the crime, shows what can happen when a community forms a united front against crime.”

This is the third attack on farmers in one weekend. On Saturday night, a 46-year-old farmer was shot through his bedroom window while sleeping on his Rietfontein farm near Potchefstroom, the North West police said. The man was taken to Potchefstroom Provincial Hospital in a critical condition while police search for those involved. On Friday, 65-year-old Jan Wheeler was murdered outside Marble Hall in Limpopo. His killers gained access into the farmer's house by breaking the back door, Limpopo police said. They overpowered Wheeler in the bedroom and repeatedly stabbed him with a sharp object. The men took a few electrical household appliances and ran away.

The DA member of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature, Tom Stokes, said he believed the issue of farm killings was aggravated by [Malema’s] singing of struggle songs that advocated the killing of farmers. He was referring to Malema singing “kill the boer” song last week at a meeting while addressing students at the University of Johannesburg. This caused an uproar as some people viewed it as advocating the killing of farmers. “Malema’s actions, along with subsequent attempts by the ANC’s Gwede Mantashe to justify his conduct, stand in stark contrast to the pain and suffering being experienced by this family and the many others before them,” said Stokes.

Stokes' view was supported by Advocate Anton Alberts of the Freedom Front Plus who said, as an influential youth leader, Malema created an atmosphere in which “reckless thoughts and actions flourished”. “No deep thoughts are needed to realise that Malema’s comments are creating an atmosphere which is conducive for those who want to commit murder... he is an accessory to the wiping out of farmers in South Africa.”

The argument by the ANC that the song was merely a preservation of struggle literature, rang hollow in the face of a family that had lost a wife, mother and grandmother, said Stokes, referring to Sunday night’s farm murder in KwaZulu-Natal.

The Freedom Front Plus was in the meantime preparing a report on farm murders and Malema’s role in it. This will be given to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. “We will also investigate the possibility to lay charges against Malema at the International Criminal Court, or in the least make the court aware of a growing phenomenon of the victimisation of minorities and specifically the Afrikaner in South Africa,” said Alberts. This, he said, could escalate to international crimes.

Source: Times Live

'Incendiary Malema will divide us'

African National Congress Youth League chief Julius Malema's recent comments could create racial polarisation in South Africa, said the Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) on Thursday. "We believe Mr Malema's incendiary remarks are designed to fan the flames of racial hatred and promote polarisation," the national office bearers of the AFM said in a statement.

Malema, according to the Sowetan, led students at the University of Johannesburg in a song saying: "Shoot the boere (farmers), they are rapists." He told students that former president Nelson Mandela had convinced blacks to forgive, but they should never forget what was done to them. The AFM said it was alarmed that senior members of the ANC had not condemned Malema's "hate-filled tirade" and had not yet disciplined him. It called on the ruling party to take "appropriate action" which would "restore the public's trust in government and its commitment to reconciliation and nation building".

Source: IoL

Malema under fire for 'kill the boer' song

ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema is facing a barrage of complaints to the police and chapter nine institutions over his latest racial outburst, after he led students in singing "kill the boer".

Freedom Front Plus leader and Deputy Agriculture Minister Pieter Mulder will on Wednesday lodge a hate speech complaint against Malema at the Brooklyn police station, Pretoria. Mulder said the use of the slogan was a contravention of section 16 of the Constitution. "Freedom of speech does not include the advocacy of hatred that is based on race, ethnicity, gender or religion, and which constitutes incitement to cause harm and has in any case been declared as hate speech by the courts."

Malema, according to the Sowetan, led students at the University of Johannesburg in a song saying: "Shoot the boere [farmers], they are rapists". He told students that former president Nelson Mandela had convinced blacks to forgive, but they should never forget what was done to them.

AfriForum Youth national chairman Ernst Roets said the organisation would submit a complaint to the Equality Court in Johannesburg. Roets said it was not the first time Malema sang the song reminiscent of the late Peter Mokaba. He sang it at his birthday celebrations in Polokwane last week, in a province where six farmers were murdered in the past month, Roets said. "Julius Malema has become the biggest embarrassment of not only the youth, but also of the country. "There is no way in which you can dismiss the song as something that simply has to be viewed in a political context and that doesn't have any real consequences," he said.

The Afrikanerbond lodged a complaint with the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). "It is clear that neither the ANCYL or the ANC have the political will or power to reign in Mr Malema and his daily tirades against everything we hold dear in South Africa," it said in a statement. "We trust that the Human Rights Commission will act in a manner which will restore our faith in this institution as well as in the promotion of human rights."

In the complaint, Afrikanerbond chief secretary Jan Bosman said there were about 750 to 850 attacks on farms each year, adding that last year alone 120 people were murdered on farms. "Incitement to violence is a serious offence and with the current problem with rural safety we simply do not need a politician such as Mr Malema to exacerbate the problem," he said.

In 2007, the slogan "kill the farmer, kill the boer" was defined as hate speech by the commission. The FF Plus lodged a complaint with the SAHRC after ANC members used the slogan during two public meetings in 2006. Initially, the commission said the slogan did not constitute hate speech, but was an instance, although an undesirable one, of the right to freedom of expression. However, the party successfully appealed against the finding.

Theunis Botha, acting chair of the Christian Democratic Alliance, said Malema's comments could not be ignored and dismissed as a joke. "By the ANC not denouncing statements made by Malema, the joker has now effectively countered one of the rare occasions on which farm murders are condemned by the Minister of Police [Nathi Mthethwa]. "While the slaughtering of farmers continues, we are again back to square one as far as the government's attitude to these farm murders are concerned."

Mthethwa on Monday said farm murders should not be politicised. He said additional police and efficient tactics would be employed to mitigate farm and rural murders. "Surely, if Mthethwa calls on politicians not to make politics of farm murders, the same should apply to ANC office bearers, such as Malema. "By not banning Malema from the ANC, which is apparently, the only way to cut him to size, the country is done a great disservice," Botha said.

The ANC on Wednesday said it had not yet decided whether it would talk to Malema about his comments.

Source: IoL

Malema under fire for 'kill the boer' song

ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema is facing a barrage of complaints to the police and chapter nine institutions over his latest racial outburst, after he led students in singing "kill the boer". Freedom Front Plus leader and Deputy Agriculture Minister Pieter Mulder will on Wednesday lodge a hate speech complaint against Malema at the Brooklyn police station, Pretoria.

Mulder said the use of the slogan was a contravention of section 16 of the Constitution. "Freedom of speech does not include the advocacy of hatred that is based on race, ethnicity, gender or religion, and which constitutes incitement to cause harm and has in any case been declared as hate speech by the courts."

Malema, according to the Sowetan, led students at the University of Johannesburg in a song saying: "Shoot the boere [farmers], they are rapists". He told students that former president Nelson Mandela had convinced blacks to forgive, but they should never forget what was done to them. AfriForum Youth national chairman Ernst Roets said the organisation would submit a complaint to the Equality Court in Johannesburg. Roets said it was not the first time Malema sang the song reminiscent of the late Peter Mokaba.

He sang it at his birthday celebrations in Polokwane last week, in a province where six farmers were murdered in the past month, Roets said. "Julius Malema has become the biggest embarrassment of not only the youth, but also of the country. "There is no way in which you can dismiss the song as something that simply has to be viewed in a political context and that doesn't have any real consequences," he said.

The Afrikanerbond lodged a complaint with the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). "It is clear that neither the ANCYL or the ANC have the political will or power to reign in Mr Malema and his daily tirades against everything we hold dear in South Africa," it said in a statement. "We trust that the Human Rights Commission will act in a manner which will restore our faith in this institution as well as in the promotion of human rights." In the complaint, Afrikanerbond chief secretary Jan Bosman said there were about 750 to 850 attacks on farms each year, adding that last year alone 120 people were murdered on farms. "Incitement to violence is a serious offence and with the current problem with rural safety we simply do not need a politician such as Mr Malema to exacerbate the problem," he said.

In 2007, the slogan "kill the farmer, kill the boer" was defined as hate speech by the commission. The FF Plus lodged a complaint with the SAHRC after ANC members used the slogan during two public meetings in 2006. Initially, the commission said the slogan did not constitute hate speech, but was an instance, although an undesirable one, of the right to freedom of expression. However, the party successfully appealed against the finding.

Theunis Botha, acting chair of the Christian Democratic Alliance, said Malema's comments could not be ignored and dismissed as a joke. "By the ANC not denouncing statements made by Malema, the joker has now effectively countered one of the rare occasions on which farm murders are condemned by the Minister of Police [Nathi Mthethwa]. "While the slaughtering of farmers continues, we are again back to square one as far as the government's attitude to these farm murders are concerned."

Mthethwa on Monday said farm murders should not be politicised. He said additional police and efficient tactics would be employed to mitigate farm and rural murders. "Surely, if Mthethwa calls on politicians not to make politics of farm murders, the same should apply to ANC office bearers, such as Malema. "By not banning Malema from the ANC, which is apparently, the only way to cut him to size, the country is done a great disservice," Botha said.

The ANC on Wednesday said it had not yet decided whether it would talk to Malema about his comments.

Source: IoL

FF charges unions with hate speech

The Freedom Front Plus has laid charges with the Human Rights Commission (HRC) and the police against Nehawu, Cosatu and the ANC for hate speech.

The charges were laid following chants of "kill the boer, kill the farmer" by protesters at the Potchefstroom Agricultural College while pointing to white students recently, FF Plus Northwest provincial leader, Pieter Groenewald said.

"This slogan has already been declared hate speech by the HRC and these actions are therefore a transgression," he said.

Source: IoL

ANC member charged with murder of farm couple

In the second prosecution of apartheid-era crimes not covered by an amnesty, the state has charged an ANC member with the murder of a farmer and his wife 19 years ago.

Ronnie Blani, 41, was allegedly part of a group of eight members of the then-banned ANC Youth League driven by the slogan "Kill the farmer, kill the boer". He did not apply for amnesty and is now facing two counts of murder for the brutal killing of farmer Koos de Jager and his wife Myrtle on June 17, 1985.

In the first prosecution, apartheid security police officer Gideon Niewoudt was arrested in February and charged with the 1985 murder of the Pebco Three - Sipho Hashe, Qaquwili Godolozi and Champion Galela - popular leaders of the ANC-inspired uprising in the Eastern Cape.

Blani fled to Angola soon after the killings. Niewoudt applied for amnesty to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission but it was denied in June 1999 because he had failed to make a full disclosure of his crimes. He was also denied amnesty for the Motherwell bombing of three fellow security police officers and an informer suspected of having defected to the ANC.

Niewoudt is out on R50 000 bail and the case now hinges on Niewoudt's appeal against the TRC's refusal of amnesty. Blani was the only one of the group of eight to escape capture. Two, Ndumiso Siphenuka, 25, and Makwezana Menze, 42, were found guilty and were hanged in 1989. Two others, Similo Wonci and Mziwoxolo Makeleni, had their death sentences commuted at the last minute to life in jail and were later pardoned by President Thabo Mbeki and freed with three other members serving long jail terms. Blani fled to Angola soon after the killings and returned to South Africa only in 1992.

Twelve years later, Blani appeared in the Kirkwood magistrate's court on Tuesday, and his case was postponed to July 19 at the same court. He was warned to appear. It was his third appearance. On June 25 and 28, the case was postponed without charges being put to him. Blani said on Tuesday that he had not approached the TRC for amnesty because he thought he had returned home under a "blanket amnesty" for all exiles. One of the group of eight, Similo Wonci, on Tuesday condemned the prosecution. "We were all pardoned and I don't understand why Bulelani Ngcuka (national public prosecutions director) has now decided to prosecute Ronnie. We have asked the ANC to look into the matter," said Wonci.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said on Tuesday: "He (Blani) was involved in these crimes. "He is being charged and will have to appear in court."

Source: IoL

'We're not sorry for kill the boer slogan'

It's a slogan that the Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) called hate speech last year and it has resurfaced in the flurry of party propaganda in the run-up to the elections. Earlier this year, the Freedom Front Plus lodged a complaint against Mangaliso Kubheka, national organiser of the Landless People's Movement, claiming he had said "kill the farmer, kill the boer" during a speech.

The SAHRC investigated the complaint and ruled that the LPM apologise publicly via the newspaper Rapport, which had reported on the offending speech. They have until March 23 to respond. However, a defiant Mangaliso Kubheka told Saturday Star that the party would not apologise. "We have nothing to apologise for. The Freedom Front Plus is not a friend or a relative. Maybe the HRC should apologise for talking about things I do not know about."

Kubheka said he did not think the "kill the farmer, kill the boer" slogan constituted hate speech. "We are talking about a party that is calling for the death penalty. Can they tell you who the slogan was directed at anyway? If they say it's hate speech then they must say who it is directed at," Kubheka said. Leon Louw, spokesperson for the Freedom Front plus, said the party was considering suing the LPM. "We are waiting until the cut-off date and if there has not been a response by then, we will definitely take further steps."

Mogam Moodliar, head of legal services at the SAHRC, said their recommendation was that the LPM must apologise for the comments but should that not happen, the commission had brainstormed various responses. "We could mediate, ask the party if they really meant it, or the Freedom Front Plus could take the issue to the Equality Court."

Last June, the Freedom Front Plus lodged a complaint with the SAHRC after African National Congress members used the slogan during two public meetings, one of which was the funeral of ANC MP Peter Mokaba in 2002. On appeal, the SAHRC said the killing of a group of people was an "advocacy of hatred" that amounted to harm.

But Moodliar said this pronouncement did not result in any legal precedent. "It does not mean that every utterance is hate speech. We need to look at whether there was harm caused or intention to cause harm," he said.

Source: IoL

DA goes to court over 'Kill the boer' slogan

The Democratic Alliance is to take the African National Congress, the South African Communist Party and Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) to the newly established Equality Court for incitement to violence.

This comes after members of the tripartite alliance brandished posters saying "Kill the boer, kill the farmer" outside the Phalaborwa magistrate's court in Limpopo on Tuesday. Other posters waved outside the court read "Tired with the boers" and "Castrate the boers".

The angry ANC, SACP and Cosatu members were protesting over the brutal murder of former construction worker Nelson Chisale, who was fed to lions near Hoedspruit last month, allegedly by his former boss Mark Scott-Crossley, 35, and three other men, Simon Mathebula, 43, Richard Mathebula, 41, and Robert Mnisi, 34.

The murder charge against Mnisi was withdrawn on Tuesday, apparently after he agreed to turn state witness. Last year, the South African Human Rights Commission declared the slogan "Kill the boer, kill the farmer" to be hate speech. "It was outrageous for those slogans to have been used," DA spokesperson Sandra Botha said on Wednesday. "We should be getting rid of racism, instead they (the tripartite alliance) are using slogans that have been ruled as hate speech." Botha said that only one person accused of the murder was white, and that the crime was not racially motivated. "Whenever a white person is accused of a crime (against a black person) then the slogans are used against a section of the population, the farmers," said Botha.

She added that Scott-Crossley was not a farmer, but owned a construction company which he ran from a smallholding. However, the tripartite alliance has come out fighting, saying the DA is politicking during an election year.

ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said: "The question they are raising is about members using the slogans, whereas it is (actually) about one human being throwing another to the lions. "Our primary focus at the protest was to highlight the barbarism of the people who allegedly fed a man to the lions," he said. Ngonyama added that the DA was trying to "hide" the killing by only highlighting the sloganeering.

Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said: "We have made it quite clear that 'kill the boer, kill the farmer' is not and was never a Cosatu slogan. We understand how those protesters were feeling, and we believe in the rule of the law, and that law should take its course."

SACP spokesperson Mazibuko Jara called the DA "melodramatic" and "opportunistic". "The DA is trying to divert attention away from racism, the exploitation of farmworkers and violence on farms. The DA should condemn these atrocities and enter into dialogue with the people affected," Jara said.

Source: IoL

HRC says 'kill boer' slogan is hate speech

It's official. The slogan "kill the farmer, kill the boer" is hate speech, according to a finding of an appeal tribunal of the South African Human Rights Commission. Thursday's finding came after a complaint from the Freedom Front (FF) about the use of the slogan - and an appeal against an earlier commission finding that the phrase was not hate speech. "Even though we had to struggle for three years, we welcome the finding. Finally they came to the right conclusion," said FF leader Pieter Mulder.

Declaring the slogan to be hate speech was a first step in the right direction to stop farm killings, Mulder said. "The first finding had double standards because it meant racism was only wrong when it was by whites to blacks, but now we know that it is also wrong for blacks to be racist against whites," said Mulder.

The party lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Commission in Johannesburg after African National Congress members used the slogan during two public meetings in June last year. One was at the funeral of ANC MP Peter Mokaba in Polokwane, and the other at an ANC youth rally in Kimberley. Earlier this year, the commission said the slogan did not constitute hate speech, but was an instance, although an undesirable one, of the right to freedom of expression. The Freedom Front appealed against the finding. "The slogan 'kill the farmer, kill the boer' as chanted at an ANC youth rally in Kimberley and at Mokaba's funeral is hate speech as defined in Section 16(2)(c) of the Constitution," said commissioner Karthy Govender.

He said freedom of expression was a fundamental right in democracy but by the same token South African courts were clear that the freedom of expression was not a supreme right as in the United States constitution. "We have concluded that the calling for the killing of a group of people is an advocacy of hatred, which must amount to harm," he said.

Simon Kimane, of the Freedom of Expression Institute, expressed disappointment with the finding. "There is no causal connection between the slogan and any actual killings of Afrikaners in this country," he said. He said the institution's submission had pleaded for the right of freedom of expression for the young South African democracy, and that the institution feared that the finding might set a bad precedent.

ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said "kill the farmer, kill the boer" was never an adopted slogan of his party. "The ANC will discourage people from using the slogan," he said.

Source: IoL

Farmers hail Mbeki's 'kill the boer' stance

Orgainised agriculture has welcomed President Thabo Mbeki's public rejection of hate speech such as the controversial slogan, Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer which was chanted at the funeral of African National Congress MP Peter Mokaba. The president of Agri SA, Japie Grobler conveyed his appreciation to President Mbeki for the "clear leadership" he demonstrated in parliament in reaction to objections from farm leaders to the hate speech at Mokaba's funeral as well as ongoing farm murders.

"This gives a strong new dimension to the debate on farm safety and on the rights, value and dignity of farmers," he said.

"The acid test remains whether the necessary mandates and disciplining will ensue so that society can be rid of cancers such as Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer, as well as the lawlessness within which we are living," said Grobler.

He said it was necessary that rural communities "do some soul searching" regarding their own attitudes and choice of words in order to promote unity which is needed to restore a respect for life, property and law and order in the country.

Source: IoL

Mbeki speaks out against 'kill boer' slogan

No one had the right to call for the killing of farmers or Boers, nor the right to threaten violence to advance their particular goals, President Thabo Mbeki told the National Assembly on Wednesday. "Those farmers and Boers are as much South African and African as I am, entitled to the same rights and privileges that are enjoyed by any other South African," he said in reply to debate on his budget vote.

Mbeki's comments followed the recent controversy surrounding the chanting of the "Kill the Farmer, Kill the Boer" slogan at ANC MP Peter Mokaba's funeral, and calls for the government to distance itself from this form of hate speech. Mbeki said nobody anywhere in South Africa had a right to call for the killing of any South African, whatever the race, ethnic origin, gender or health condition of the intended victim. Mbeki said he was proud that many farmers instead of isolating themselves were lending a hand to create a better life for all by being "proudly African".

The president - who has consistently ignored the leader of the Opposition, Tony Leon - again snubbed him by not replying to any of Leon's concerns raised during the budget vote debate on Wednesday. However, Mbeki did wish NNP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk well in his new responsibiity as Western Cape premier.

Source: IoL

Parties unite against Mokaba 'hate speech'

Three political parties have expressed concern and outrage about the use of the slogan "Kill the Boer, kill the farmer" at the funeral of African National Congress MP Peter Mokaba. The Afrikaner Eenheidsbeweging (AEB) added its voice on Sunday night to the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Freedom Front (FF), objecting to the use of the slogan and condemning it as hate speech.

AEB leader Cassie Aucamp said his party would refer the use of the slogan to the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). He said the slogan, which was made popular by Mokaba, had previously been referred to the commission for a decision on whether it was hate speech or not. At the time the commission found that it was not hate speech if seen against the political background of that era. Aucamp said the commission would have to answer the question if the slogan, seen in the current political context, was still not hate speech. He said what worried him even more was the fact that President Thabo Mbeki had been present at the funeral where the slogan was chanted and apparently did nothing to stop it. He said the AEB would also raise the subject in parliament during Mbeki's budget vote this week.

The FF also vowed to a lay a complaint with the SAHRC against the ANC. FF leader Pieter Mulder accused the ANC's leadership of double standards when it came to condemning racism.

In his reaction, DA leader Tony Leon sharply criticised the government's failure to react. Leon said farmers were being murdered at a terrible rate - last year alone more than 900 farms were attacked and 140 farmers murdered - and the government had done nothing to stop it.

Source: IoL

Aids dissident Peter Mokaba dies

Fiery senior African National Congress leader Peter Mokaba, who held controversial views on Aids, died at his home in Johannesburg on Sunday. ANC officials were not prepared to go on record on Sunday night and party spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama was not available for comment. "We want to express shock at the death of a young leader and we would like to express our condolences to the family," said Pan Africanist Congress leader Stanley Mogoba.

Mokaba will always be associated with controversy. "We believe he still had much to offer the country. I believe it is a loss to the country as well as to the Northern Province."

South African Communist Party spokesperson Mazibuko Jara also expressed shock. "We share our grief and pain with the family, the ANC and his friends," he said. "We will release a full statement after we have received a report from the ANC."

Mokaba was recently asked to desist from making public statements about Aids, as were scientists serving on President Thabo Mbeki's Aids advisory panel who held dissident views. Mokaba, an MP, denied that he was a dissident. He fell ill in 1999 and was given long leave from parliament. He fiercely rejected rumours at the time that he had Aids. When he attended the ANC national general council meeting in June 2000, he had noticeably lost weight. Turning his attention to the Aids debate, he made numerous statements emphasising that the virus had not been isolated and that antiretroviral drugs were toxic. He claimed the Americans and the French were fighting for markets to which they could sell antiretrovirals because they had struck an agreement in the 1980s that, if the virus was discovered by scientists, they would share the benefits of sales of drugs. He said in a recent interview that Aids drugs had no benefits beyond profits for firms. "I have fought apartheid and we won," he said. "We will fight this battle (against pharmaceutical companies), too. We can't allow ourselves to be turned into guinea pigs for these companies to play with our lives."

Mokaba hit out at Malegapuru Makgoba, head of the Medical Research Council, because he maintained that HIV caused Aids. Mokaba described him as a "low-grade politician" who was being used by anti-government forces. Despite his controversial views about the disease, Mokaba believed that the government was on the right course with its response to the pandemic. Mokaba had his strongest political support in Northern Province, the region in which he was born.

In March 1987, he founded the South African Youth Congress, Sayco, and was elected president at its launch. After the unbanning of the ANC, Sayco dissolved and the ANC Youth League was established. Mokaba served as ANC Youth League president from December 1991 to January 1994.

Mokaba will always be associated with controversy - and the phrase "Kill the boer, kill the farmer", which he coined when he was the youth league's president. He used the phrase when he addressed a commemorative rally for slain SACP leader Chris Hani at Khayelitsha near Cape Town on April 17 1993. At the time of his death, he was an ANC MP, a member of the ANC national executive committee and the chief electioneering strategist of the ruling party.

Source: IoL

'Kill the Boer' slogan led to murders

The convicted murderer of a Vryheid farmer told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday that his crime was influenced by the "kill the Boer, kill the farmer" slogan he heard at African National Congress rallies.

Ntuthuko Chuene, 28, is serving a life sentence for the murder of Godfrey Frederick Lanz Heuer on August 22, 1992. He also stole a Rossi Special firearm, ammunition and a suitcase containing about R1 000 in cash, a pocket calculator and books. He said he stole the guns to defend his community from the Inkatha Freedom Party. Chuene said his accomplice in the killing, Piet Nkosi, was later shot and killed by the police. He said he was forced by circumstances in the area where he lived, Mondlo, to commit the crimes. The killing was not directed at Heuer, as he just happened to be a white farmer at the wrong time. "I could have killed any other white man I came across at that time. My frustrations were directed to white men because they had what we did not have," Chuene said. "I am sorry, I look back now and regret."

Heuer's wife Amy said she did not believe Chuene killed her husband because of politically motivated reasons. "I do not want him to be granted amnesty. I watched my husband die in front of me and could not help him," she said.

Source: IoL