Julius Malema once again upset many people after he and thousands of his supporters sang the song “Kill the Boer” during the EFF’s birthday celebrations at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on Saturday.
Although the equality court decided not to declare the song hate speech, Christo van der Rheede, outgoing executive director of Agri SA, believes Malema went too far this time.
“What do you want to achieve by continuing to sing these highly insensitive, divisive, hateful and despicable words?” Van der Rheede wanted to know on Monday.
“All you achieve is to whip up emotions and polarize our citizenry.
“You are mistaken if you think you will advance the cause of economic freedom by slogans and chants. You will instead achieve the opposite – which is more poverty, misery and hunger.”
Solly Malatsi, national spokesperson for the DA, meanwhile said that the opposition party strongly condemns the weekend’s singing of “Kill the Boer”.
“We consider this act to be completely unacceptable and believe that incitement to violence has no place in our society.”
According to Van der Rheede, Malema must stop labeling farmers as the enemy.
“The real enemy is a corrupt, incompetent and unproductive state with skewed budget priorities. So stop misleading people by making them believe in empty political rhetoric. It only produces empty shelves and misery.”
According to Van der Rheede, South Africa will only achieve economic freedom if the national budget prioritizes economic development instead of social development.
“It is the agricultural sector in general and all the other role players that make the economy work for me, you and the rest of South Africa. Chanting slogans like ‘Kill the Boer’ is childish and amounts to political thuggery,” says Van der Rheede.
According to Van der Rheede, Malema will only gain the respect of South Africans if he refrains from singing the song and “starts to empower communities, hold the state accountable for economic failures such as land reform and the pathetic levels of service delivery, especially on municipal level”.
“This is the real enemy, sir!”
In response to the weekend’s chanting of “Kill the Boer”, Malatsi said it was political leaders’ responsibility to promote nation building and social cohesion.
“Malema’s continued chanting of this racially inflammatory phrase creates a dangerous precedent that undermines our country’s path to reconciliation.”
Read all of RNews’s previous reports about this weekend’s EFF rally here.
