By Zukile Majova
Political Editor
The United Nations is now certain to have a say about Julius Malema’s singing of divisive struggle-era songs.
The EFF leader has been met with an uproar after he sang the song “Dubula Ibhunu” with a crowd of around 100,000 supporters at the FMB stadium over the weekend.
In between the singing of struggle songs, the slogan “Shoot to kill, kill the Boer, kill the farmer” was chanted in English.
DA leader John Steenhuisen said they have decided to file charges with the UN against Malema and the ANC government.
The UN has long standing resolutions on non-racialism as well as on the incitement of race-based violence.
In the context of South Africa, the UN General Assembly declared apartheid a crime against humanity in 1966 and went on to applaud SA’s post apartheid Constitution for its commitment to human rights, justice and civil liberties.
Launching his #StopMalema campaign this week, Steenhuisen said: “Julius Malema has resurrected the demon of hatred, division and ethnic violence in South Africa. He is determined to ignite the civil war our country narrowly averted in the 1990s.” He said the DA will not look away.
“We are confronting this bloodthirsty tyrant head-on,” he said.
As Malema is an MP, the official opposition is also filing charges with Parliament’s Ethics Committee, reporting Malema for inciting violence.
Steenhuisen said they will file a complaint with the public protector, adding that their lawyers were busy preparing papers for a fresh court bid to stop Malema through the local courts.
In a previous court challenge brought by AfriForum, Malema argued that singing Dubula Ibhunu was not the same as issuing a command.
He said the song was part of a painful past in South Africa and that the song and other offensive slogans must be understood in their historic context.
Last August, the Equality Court ruled in Malema’s favour, with Judge Edwin Molahlehi saying AfriForum failed to prove its case.
“They have also failed to show that this song could reasonably be construed to demonstrate a clear intention to harm or incite harm and propagate hatred,” he said.
Christo van der Rheede, the CEO of AgriI SA, condemned Malema’s chanting of “Kill the Boer, Farmer…” in a country where farmers have been victims of hate crimes.
“What do you seek to achieve by continuing to chant these highly insensitive, divisive, spiteful and despicable words? All that you achieve is to whip up emotions and polarise our citizenry,” he wrote in an open letter to Malema.
“You are wrong if you think you will advance the cause of economic freedom through sloganeering and chanting. Instead, you will achieve the opposite, which is more poverty, misery and hunger.”
Pictured above: Julius Malema
Image source: EFF
