ANCYL leader Julius Malema assured supporters he would win the hate speech case against him, after a music expert told the Equality Court the Shoot the Boer “chant” could incite violence.
African National Congress Youth League president Julius Malema assured supporters outside the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Wednesday that he would win the hate speech case against him.
“We are going to win, because we are children of winners,” Malema, flanked by bodyguards and ANC MP Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, told the crowd.
“We are doing well, our lawyers are doing very well … you are real friends, real comrades,” he said before thanking Madikizela-Mandela, referring to her as “his mother”.
He also told them not to give the “Mickey Mouses” standing behind him, reason to make a noise. He was referring to some Afriforum members standing behind the court gates. The civil rights organisation had brought the case against him.
Kiss the boer
“Peacefully sing, you must not allow people to provoke you.” Malema then began singing “shoot to kill, shoot to kill… kiss the boer, kiss the boer, kiss the farmer”.
Eagerly awaiting the song, the crowd joined in.
Malema said on Tuesday that it was not him, but the “revolution” that was on trial for hate speech.
Madikizela-Mandela also spoke to the gathering, referring to Malema as “her son”, and the supporters as “her children and grandchildren”.
“Time will come when they know who we are … you must come back tomorrow,” she said, after shouting “amandla” (power) repeatedly.
Expert knowledge
Supporters chanted Malema’s name. Some carried placards reading “Leave our president alone”, “Criminals are Afriforum, by stealing our fathers’ land”, and “Leave our dubula song alone”.
They sang, danced and chanted behind a police barrier outside the court gates.
ANCYL spokesperson Floyd Shivambu addressed supporters over a loudspeaker at lunch.
“Viva ANC viva, viva political songs viva, hands off our political songs viva, hands off Julius Malema, viva! That person [music expert Dr Anne-Marie Gray] totally agrees with us, that struggle songs are part of our history. This expert gave expert knowledge that struggle songs do not intimidate anyone.
“She agrees that these songs are part of our history,” Shivambu said.
Gray earlier told the court “shoot the boer” was not a song, but a chant.
“This is not a song, this is a chant, and a chant is much more threatening … to people who don’t understand it.”
A song did not contain repetition or gestures which made people feel uncomfortable. A chant also created a “trance-like” scene, which “sweeps you off your feet”.
“It makes you want to almost do something,” she said.
She had never before heard the “song” sung in this manner, and it was only in recent years that she had heard Malema sing it.
Malema’s lawyer Mmusi Sisukhane cross-examined Gray and told the court the fact that the song came from other sources did not mean it did not exist. He sang Dubula (i)bhunu (shoot the boer) to the court.
He said ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe and Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane would also testify at a later stage.
Music’s influence
Criminologist Professor Christiaan Bezuidenhout told the Equality Court that music was an important tool in influencing society and the youth.
“Youth are at a very gullible stage … [music is] a tool of influence, you can calm or trigger emotions,” he said. “Music can have an influence on thinking and emotions.”
He reiterated this point by citing examples such as American artist ICE T’s song called Cop Killer, which he said was influential in increasing the number of police killings in the United States. He also referred to the blame laid on the group Slipknot, for apparently influencing “samurai killer” Morne Harmse’s murder of a fellow pupil with a sword.
Bezuidenhout said the youth saw Malema as “their idol” and as a father figure.
Referring to Afriforum’s concern that the song would incite farm murders, Bezuidenhout said most farm attacks were calculated and planned, and included “gratuitous violence”.
Afriforum want the lyrics of the song prohibited, arguing they were harmful to Afrikaners and farmers.
Farmers’ organisation the Transvaal Agricultural Union of South Africa and the Association of Lawyers for Afrikaans are supporting AfriForum in the application.
The case continues. — Sapa