South African "shoot the farmer" song is hate speech

Sep 12, 2011, 10:24 GMT

Johannesburg - The South African High Court ruled on Monday that a song containing the words 'shoot the farmer,' which originated in the struggle against apartheid, constitutes hate speech.

'No justification exists allowing the words to be sung ... the words were in any event not sung on a justifiable occasion,' Judge Collin Lamont ruled in Johannesburg, saying the lyrics violated the human rights of white farmers.

An Afrikaner civil rights group filed a suit against Julius Malema, the president of the ruling African National Congress' (ANC) Youth League, after he sang the song at several public events.

The group, which welcomed the ruling, had charged that the Zulu-language song, Dubul' Ibhunu, incites violence against rural whites. The song is commonly translated as 'Shoot the Boer,' the Afrikaans word for farmer.

Yet Malema, who wields influence but no formal power, says the song is a legitimate part of the country's heritage as it was written during the struggle against the racist minority-regime that ruled South Africa until the dawn of democracy in 1994.

Several witnesses called in Malema's favour, including white members of the ANC, said the song should not incite racial hatred.

He was ordered to pay court costs in the civil case which did not carry a criminal penalty.

The youth league president is meanwhile fighting for his political life on another front, as the ANC holds a disiplimary hearing for him.

Malema and five fellow leaders of his league are accused by the party's top brass of sowing divisions within the ANC ranks and bringing it into 'disrepute.'

If the party committee rules against him, Malema faces suspension or expulsion. The hearing comes after he said the government in neighbouring Botswana was 'a serious threat to Africa' and called for regime change.

The ANC suspended its hearing so Malema could attend the High Court session for the hate speech trial, but he failed to turn up.

Only several dozen supporters gathered outside the courthouse to support their absent youth league leader, and erupted into a chorus of 'Dubul' Ibhunu' after the verdict was read.

Lamont in his ruling said 'words provide stimulus for action' and that the result could be deadly, noting that genocides began after masses were stoked by rhetoric. The judge also said that Malema had made gestures imitating the firing of a rifle while singing the song.

The verdict includes a detailed history of South Africa's past, including the colonial period and apartheid era.

Lamont noted that some people in the country had yet to come to term with the changes society underwent since 1994, while for many citizens equality was not yet achieved. The judge admitted that some aspects of the past may 'never be fully reversed.'

Malema has also startled the business sector in the country and foreign investors with his continued calls for nationalizing the country's mines.

The youth league president says he is the last defender of South Africa's poorest, though he is often accused of leading a lavish lifestyle and is mired in allegations of involvement in corruption.

Malema's upcoming ANC showdown is his second internal disciplinary party hearing. Moreover, he already was found guilty once in court of hate speech, for saying a woman who alleged now-President Jacob Zuma raped her had had a 'nice time' thereby.