South African opposition leader Julius Malema doubled down this weekend on his use of violent political slogans, just days after US President Donald Trump played footage of Malema chanting “Kill the Boer, kill the farmer” during a tense meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The meeting at the White House on Wednesday turned confrontational when Trump played a four-minute video meant to support his repeated claims of anti-white violence in South Africa.
The clip featured Malema in his red beret shouting slogans like “cut the throat of whiteness” and “Kill the Boer,” a chant originally used during the country’s apartheid era.
Speaking at a rally in the Eastern Cape on Saturday, Malema defended the chant, completely brushing off concerns about its implications.
“It is not my song. I did not compose this song,” Malema said. “The struggle heroes composed this song. All I am doing is defending the legacy of our struggle. Therefore, I will never stop singing it. That would be a betrayal of the struggle of our people.”
Malema has long claimed the slogan is symbolic and part of South Africa’s political heritage. Courts in South Africa lifted a temporary ban on the chant in 2010, ruling it was not hate speech based on its historical context.
Malema’s comments came just days after Ramaphosa and his delegation tried to distance themselves from the EFF leader during their meeting with Trump. According to officials familiar with the exchange, South African officials repeatedly said that Malema does not speak for the government and that his views do not reflect national policy.
Malema, 44, leads the radical left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters party, which he founded in 2013 after being expelled from the ruling African National Congress. Since then, he has consistently used anti-capitalist, race-based rhetoric to appeal to young and economically frustrated South Africans, often courting controversy in the process.
The meeting at the White House on Wednesday turned confrontational when Trump played a four-minute video meant to support his repeated claims of anti-white violence in South Africa.
The clip featured Malema in his red beret shouting slogans like “cut the throat of whiteness” and “Kill the Boer,” a chant originally used during the country’s apartheid era.
Speaking at a rally in the Eastern Cape on Saturday, Malema defended the chant, completely brushing off concerns about its implications.
“It is not my song. I did not compose this song,” Malema said. “The struggle heroes composed this song. All I am doing is defending the legacy of our struggle. Therefore, I will never stop singing it. That would be a betrayal of the struggle of our people.”
Malema has long claimed the slogan is symbolic and part of South Africa’s political heritage. Courts in South Africa lifted a temporary ban on the chant in 2010, ruling it was not hate speech based on its historical context.
Malema’s comments came just days after Ramaphosa and his delegation tried to distance themselves from the EFF leader during their meeting with Trump. According to officials familiar with the exchange, South African officials repeatedly said that Malema does not speak for the government and that his views do not reflect national policy.
Malema, 44, leads the radical left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters party, which he founded in 2013 after being expelled from the ruling African National Congress. Since then, he has consistently used anti-capitalist, race-based rhetoric to appeal to young and economically frustrated South Africans, often courting controversy in the process.
