Closing argument in Malema hate speech trial on May 19

Closing argument in African National Congress (ANC) Youth League president Julius Malema’s hate speech trial will begin on May 19, Willie Spies, lawyer for lobby group AfriForum, said on Tuesday.

It will be held over two days at the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, where the Equality Court case is being heard.

AfriForum took Malema to court in the hopes of restricting his singing of lyrics in a struggle song that translate from isiZulu to “shoot the boer”.

It says it finds some of the translations to English threatening to farmers and Afrikaners.

Malema and ANC representatives, who included secretary general Gwede Mantashe, told the court it was a song from the struggle against apartheid that was now sung as part of the ongoing battle against economic oppression.

The trial’s resumption will be the day after municipal elections.—Sapa