EEF leader Julius Malema.
Patriotic Alliance deputy president Kenny Kunene has vowed that Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema will not get a cent from him as compensation for calling him a “cockroach”.
“There’s not a cent he’s going to get from me. I’ve never ever apologised. I can’t apologise to this young boy. He insults people all the time, then just runs to court,” a defiant Kunene told the Mail & Guardian this week.
In 2022, the Johannesburg high court ordered Kunene to issue an unconditional public apology for referring to Malema as a “cockroach”, a “little frog” and a criminal during a 2021 interview on news channel eNCA. Judge Motsamai Makume ruled that Kunene’s remarks constituted hate speech under the Equality Act.
Kunene was also restrained from publishing, propagating, advocating or communicating any hate speech as defined by the Act. He has since been granted leave to appeal the judgment, with the matter scheduled to be heard at the high court on 23 July.
“I went to the same judge who granted me leave to appeal his own judgment. When a judge gives you leave to appeal, it means he believes that a different court might reach a different conclusion,” Kunene said.
Malema is also suing Kunene for defamation over comments Kunene made at a Cape Town rally in the run-up to the May 2024 election, accusing the EFF leader of working with controversial cigarette boss Adriano Mazzotti.
“Malema works for Mazzotti. He sells illegal cigarettes for Mazzotti. The Nigerians give him cocaine,” Kunene said during the rally.
Kunene told the M&G this week that he found it strange that calling the EFF leader a “cockroach” was deemed hate speech, while Malema’s continued use of the “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer” chant at rallies has been ruled not to be so.
In March, the constitutional court, South Africa’s apex court, denied lobby group AfriForum leave to appeal a supreme court ruling that the struggle song “Kill the Boer” does not constitute hate speech.
Malema has previously argued that the chants against white apartheid rule “should not be interpreted literally, but within the context of the struggle and the political message that it sought to agitate”.
Kunene said the defamation case, stemming from his accusation that Malema works for Mazzotti, is still pending in court.