/ 29 March 2010

AfriForum undecided on Malema interdict

Afriforum Undecided On Malema Interdict

Civil rights group AfriForum has yet to decide whether it will still seek a high court interdict to stop African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president Julius Malema from singing the words “shoot the boer”.

This, after the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg ruled on Friday that the use of the words “dubula ibhunu” (shoot the boer) was unconstitutional and unlawful.

The court action was brought by Delmas businessman Willem Harmse to prevent his colleague, Mahomed Vawda, from using the words on banners and singing them during a planned march against crime.

The ANC has indicated its intention to appeal the ruling. “We are working on that,” ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said on Monday. He said the ANC’s lawyers received the ruling and documents pertaining to the case on Monday morning.

Although he could not indicate exactly when papers would be filed with the Constitutional Court, he said the legal team had been instructed that the matter was urgent.

The ANC believes the high court would have reached a different conclusion had it consulted the party about the struggle song’s history and purpose.

Last week, AfriForum threatened to apply to the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria for an urgent interdict to prevent Malema from singing the words “shoot the boer” unless he apologised in writing by 4pm on Friday for repeatedly doing so in public.

It later extended the deadline to Sunday.

Malema sang the words at his birthday celebration in Polokwane on March 4, at a student gathering at the University of Johannesburg on March 8, and again last Monday at a Human Rights Day rally.

AfriForum’s legal representative, Willie Spies, said on Monday he was still waiting for instructions from AfriForum and agricultural union TAU-SA on whether to proceed with the interdict application.

They had yet to study the order of the court in the Harmse matter to determine how wide it was, he said.

Should it be found to be wide enough, then there would be no need to proceed.

In a statement last week, Spies said the interdict’s purpose would be twofold: to protect the country’s people and to protect Malema himself “as his continued contempt for the pending legal process may end up costing him dearly”.

The words “shoot the boer” form part of the struggle song Ayasab’ amagwala (the cowards are scared).

In 2003, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) determined that the song “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer” amounted to hate speech.

Freedom Front Plus (FF+) leader Pieter Mulder laid a criminal charge against Malema after he sang the song at the university. AfriForum submitted a complaint to the Johannesburg Equality Court on March 12.

The FF+ and the Afrikanerbond followed suit, complaining to the Equality Court and the SAHRC on Tuesday.

The DA has indicated that it planned to lay 351 complaints against Malema with the SAHRC for singing “shoot the boers”. — Sapa