From 'Kill the Boer' to 'Kiss the Boer' - has the last song been sung? Afri-Forum v Julius Sello Malema 2011 12 BCLR 1289 (EQC) : case note

• Author: Karmini Pillay
• DOI: 10.10520/EJC153142
• Published date: 01 January 2013
• Date: 01 January 2013
• Pages: 221-244

From ‘Kill the Boer’ to ‘Kiss the Boer’ –

has the last song been sung?

Afri -Forum v J uliu s Sello Ma lem a 2011 12 BC LR 128 9 (E QC )

1 Introductio n

Stic ks an d ston es ma y brea k my bones , but w ords will nev er hu rt me.

Un fort una tely, wo rds do h urt. So too do o ther fo rms of exp ressio n that are used

to co nvey me ssage s in both the priva te and p ublic sp heres of s ocie ty. Few f orm s

of ex press ion, sinc e the cart oon con trovers ies dep icting th e Prop het Moh am med

with a bom b-sha ped tur ban , hav e ca ptur ed th e medi a’s atten tion to so aring

hei ght s an d ca use d natio nal fre nzy in what h as co me to b e know n as the ‘Kill the

Bo er’ son g. T he lyrics are pa rt of a well-k nown fre edom s ong ‘Aye sa ba

Am agw ala ’ w hich reg ain ed prom inen ce w hen it w as a dop ted b y form er A fric an

Na tion al Con gress Yo uth Leag ue (AN CYL) lea der , Julius M ale ma, just a few

yea rs ago. The song ra pidly pol aris ed the cou ntry into faction s on the basis of

rac e, eth nicity an d lang uag e. Wit hin d ays, the S out h Afr ica n Hu ma n Rig hts

Co mm iss ion (SAH RC ) re ceive d h undre ds of co mplai nts over the s ing ing of th e

son g. The so ng rose to furt her noto riety when it elici ted c laim s by some that it wa s

to bla me for the sa vag e murde r of far rig htw ing s epa ratist s up rem acist an d

Afr ikan er We ers tand sbew egin g (AW B) lead er, E uge ne Ter re’B lanch e, on 3 Ap ril

201 0 by tw o blac k fa rm wo rke rs a s w ell a s a nu mb er o f othe r fa rm mur der s.

It is the refo re expl icab le that th e judgm ent of A fri-F orum v J uliu s Se llo

Ma lema (V ere nigi ng v an Re gslu i vir Afri kaa ns as A micus Cur iae) was anx iou sly

1

wai ted upo n. It wa s an ticipat ed t hat the hotl y de bat ed q uestio n of wh ether or no t

the s ong amo unted to hate spe ech woul d fina lly b e put to r est . F rom a

juris prude ntia l pers pec tive, it wa s a lso an ticipa ted that the Eq uality C ourt w ould

add ress the crit ical is sues aris ing from the p ote ntia l dis cord bet wee n th e

con stitutio nal righ t to free dom of expre ssion , th e con stituti ona l hat e spe ech

2

2011 12 BCLR 1289 (EqC).

1

Section 16 of the Constitution of the Repubic of South Africa, 1996 (hereafter referred to as ‘the

2

Constitution’).

222 (20 13) 28 SAPL

cla use , and s ection s 1 0 and 12 of t he Pr om otion of Equ ality an d Pre ventio n o f

3

Un fair Dis crim inatio n A ct 4 of 200 0 (PE PUD A).

In this article, I will con sider the exten t to whic h the Court (per Lam ont J)

fulfille d the e xpectatio n of us ing this prime oppo rtunity to develop S outh Afric a’s

hate spee ch laws a s well as o ffer muc h ne eded clarity on th is discon nect betw een

PEP UDA’s hate s pee ch provis ions a nd sect ion 16(2 )(c) of the Con stitu tion. A fter

outli ning the factual back ground to t he c ase, an d setting out th e s tatem ent of the

cas e, I will analys e the Cou rt’s treatm ent of the hate speec h cla uses focuss ing

partic ularly on P EPUD A; S outh Afric a’s fir st atte mpt to legislate aga inst h ate

speech.

2 Overview of backgro und an d facts

Th e facts of the case we re as follow s. T he first comp lain ant, Af ri-F oru m, is a

sec tion 2 1 co mpa ny (in term s o f the C omp anies A ct 61 o f 1 973) and a n a ctive

non -gove rnm ental no n-p rof it orga nisatio n i nvo lved wi th the prote ctio n and

dev elopm ent of civil righ ts, includ ing a focus on mino rity righ ts. The s eco nd

4

com plaina nt, th e T ransva al Ag ricultu ral U nion of Sout h Africa (TA U), is a

volu ntary non -gove rnm ent al orga nisatio n w hic h cites a s its ma in goa l the

pro tec tion of priv ate prop erty rig hts and the sa fety of Sou th Afr ican farm ers, ma ny

of wh om hav e been victi ms o f violen t atta cks in re cen t yea rs. Both part ies ra ised

5

an ob jec tion to the Zulu s ong ‘Dubul‘ibhunu’ w hich was sung and reci ted on

var ious occa sio ns by the res pon dent, Ju lius Ma lem a, who need s little introdu ction .

Ex trac ts of th e s ong, along wi th Eng lish t ran slat ion s, are av aila ble on line. 6

Th e o bjec tionab le lyrics of the song inc luded the foll owin g word s:

Sho ot the Boer

Th e cowa rds ar e sca red

Th ese do gs are rapin g

Th e cowa rds ar e sca red

Acc ording to th e v ide o e vide nce, Male ma a dde d t he foll owin g wor ds to the

son g on o ne of the abo ve-me ntione d occa sions :

7

Sho ot the Boer.

Sho ot to k ill.

It was co mm on cau se that the obje ctiona ble utte ran ces wer e made on 3

Ma rch 2 010 at the respon dent’s birt hda y par ty, on 9 Ma rch 2 010 at the Un iversit y

Section 16(2)(c) of the Constitution.

3

See http://www.afriforum.co.za/english/about/ (accessed 2012-02-07).

4

See http://www.tlu.co.za/ (accessed 2012-02-07).

5

See http://www.mopanetree.com/news-politics/77999-shoot-boer-lyrics-zulu-english.html (accessed

6

2012-02-07).

Paragraph 60.

7