Julius Malema, the opposition leader of South Africa, was found guilty of hate speech by the country’s Equality Court on Wednesday this week after making comments at a political rally in 2022.
The party’s leader, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), who frequently speaks out and is polarized, has made the third such ruling.
In May, President Trump of the United States cited Malema as the head of an anti-white movement and claimed that South Africa had discriminated against white people there. This year, Washington cut aid to Pretoria and imposed high tariffs, which severely affected the two nations’ relations.
What we know about Malema’s legal repercussions and the conviction:
Julius Malema, who is he?
Malema, 44, is a seasoned politician in South Africa and the leader of the EFF, a small leftist party known for its advocacy of Black South Africans’ rights. Red berets and military-style clothing are frequently worn by its members.
Malema is renowned for his outspoken criticism of the African National Congress (ANC), the country’s dominant political party. Prior to joining the ANC Youth League, he was the organization’s president until 2012 when he was kicked out for opposing Jacob Zuma.
Many white South Africans believe the politician is pursuing controversial policies that are intended to denigrate them, such as nationalizing South African mines and allowing them to expropriate land without compensation. Black people had a harder time getting to know wealth and land under apartheid-era policies. The country’s private land is still largely white-owned, and that legacy still exists today.
Hamas, a Palestinian armed group, has also drawn controversy as a result of Malema’s vocal support for Hamas.
Malema’s visa to the United Kingdom was denied in June because, according to the UK Home Office, he was “non-conductive to the public good.” The action was characterized as “cowardice,” according to the EFF.
39 members of parliament make up the EFF. It is not a member of the ruling coalition government and placed fourth in the South African general elections held in May.
The Western Cape Division of South Africa’s Equality Court found Malema guilty of hate speech on Wednesday in a case brought by the South African Human Rights Commission. The court alleged that his comments at a rally in Cape Town in October 2022 were in violation of the country’s Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act.
Malema was speaking to EFF colleagues at the time he made the remarks. He made reference to a previous incident where party members had verbal exchanged with white students outside of Brackenfell High School. Black students had gathered outside the school to protest the alleged exclusion of Black students.
Malema then criticized his coworkers for failing to use more forceful retaliation. He urged them to “follow up” with a white man in the video so that they could “provide proper care” for the man.
According to Malema, “revolutionaries must not be scared to kill” and that racist deeds should be interpreted as “an application to meet your maker with immediate effect.”
No white man will ever beat me up, he said, noting that the Revolution dictates that there must be murder at some point.
The court ruled on Wednesday that the statements could be read as having “a clear intention to incite harm.”
The court stated in its ruling that while calling out someone who behaves as a racist is acceptable, calling them to be killed is not.
Malema may be asked to apologize in public, be ordered to pay compensation, or be recommended for a criminal prosecution if no punishment orders have been issued as of yet.
What have Malema and the EFF said about the court’s decision?
The EFF claimed in a statement that the court had “attacked” democracy and that the ruling had “grave distortion” of history and political speech.
According to the party, Malema’s remarks were meant “theoretically” and were made in response to the country’s history of apartheid and subsequent liberation movements. The EFF argued that Malema’s words were taken out of context and disregarded the events that had occurred in the country, including the Brackenfell school shooting and the country’s apartheid history.
According to the EFF, “this decision fundamentally misunderstands both the context and the meaning of the speech.”
The statement continued, “Not an instruction to kill people, but a reference to the unstoppable conflict between white supremacy and Black consciousness when Malema spoke of “war.”
Has Malema ever been the target of hate speech?
Yes, Malema has allegedly used hate speech in public several times. Although one of his convictions was overturned, he has twice been found guilty.
He was found guilty of hate speech in 2009 for rape at a woman who had alleged former President Zuma’s rape. Malema and Zuma were at the time, close. Malema said the woman “had a nice time” with Zuma in a comment. The Equality Court forbade him from apologizing to the accuser in public and to pay 50, 000 rand ($2,824) to a facility that treats abused women.
He was once more found guilty of hate speech in 2011 after sung the isiXhosa song “Kill the Boer” at a rally. The song, which uses white Afrikaans speakers, gained popularity in the 1980s as a result of Black opposition to white minority rule. When Black people were able to cast their first ballots in 1994, the apartheid-era government of the nation fell apart.
The Equality Court overturned that earlier judgment in 2022, accepting Malema’s claims that the lyrics were intended as a metaphorical statement of resistance when she was once more taken to court for singing racist songs.
The AfriForum and other Afrikan lobby organizations have continued to challenge the decision’s overturning. The Constitutional Court dismissed a second lawsuit in May in an effort to dismiss it.
Does Trump’s claim of “white genocide” include Malema?
Yes, US President Donald Trump cited Malema’s speeches as proof that there was a ‘white genocide’ in South Africa.
Trump and other senior members of his administration, including former adviser Elon Musk, have also supported claims that there is a genocide of white people in South Africa, as well as those of his predecessors.
However, a number of South African experts have refuted this claim and claim that there is no evidence that white people are targeted for their race in the nation.
Trump has used those claims to support his March 1st-March reduction in foreign aid and the country’s imposition of high trade tariffs. He also criticized South Africa for bringing Israel’s claim that it is a genocide in Gaza before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Even as, for instance, the US stopped migrant protection programs for people from Afghanistan, the Trump administration launched a refugee program for white South Africans in February. Under the new program, 59 white South Africans have since immigrated to the US as refugees. Ebrahim Rasool, the South African ambassador to the US, was also kicked out in May.
In an effort to repair the two countries’ deteriorating relations, President Cyril Ramaphosa confronted his counterpart with old clips from Malema’s rallies and songs and rehashed allegations that white people were being targeted.
Ramaphosa explained that Malema’s EFF opposes the president’s ANC party and does not belong in the ruling coalition. He also told Trump that he was correct when he said that white South Africans were the target of high crime rates.
At the event, former Trump adviser Elon Musk was also present. Mussk, who is a citizen of South Africa, has previously accused the politician of “actively promoting white genocide” by posting clips of Malema’s songs.
How do things generally stand between South Africa and the US?
Between the US and South Africa, there are still significant differences. Ronald Lamola, the foreign minister of South Africa, criticized Washington and the US for their treatment of white South Africans in a press interview on Wednesday.
Source: Aljazeera
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