Just days after US President Donald Trump called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to arrest Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema for singing the controversial “Kill the Boer” chant, Malema once again led the song on Sunday and vowed to continue doing so.
“I’m not going to be silenced by the threat of violence. I’m not going to be silenced by the threat of death,” he said.
Malema made the remarks on Sunday at the Mminara Sports Ground in Kwakwatsi, Free State, ahead of local by-elections this week.
“When you say ‘don’t tell him,’ Ramaphosa should have said, ‘In South Africa, we don’t tell people like that.’ There are codes in South Africa, and the codes have said there is nothing wrong with this song,” he said.
Malema said he neither owns nor composed the song, which has been widely criticised for inciting violence.
“This is not my song. I did not compose this song. I found this song; the struggle heroes composed this song. All I’m doing is defending the legacy of our struggle…,” he said.
He described the chant as a part of South Africa’s liberation heritage.
“This is the song that was sung by Peter Mokaba in the presence of Chris Hani, in the presence of Winnie Mandela,” Malema said.
“And therefore, I will never stop singing a song that Winnie Mandela sang before she died. That would be a betrayal of the struggle of our people.”
He warned that calls to stop the chant could be followed by demands to end discussions about land reform.
“Comrades, when they say stop singing ‘Kill the Boer, kill the farmer,’ they are going to say to you: Stop demanding the land because you are offending white people. Don’t talk about the land,” he said.
Trump made the call for Malema’s arrest during a recent meeting with Ramaphosa at the White House last week on Wednesday.
Trump criticised Malema and the chant, citing it as evidence of targeted violence against white Afrikaner farmers.
His remarks were influenced by a video clip of Malema speaking in Parliament about land reform.
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen, who attended the meeting, said his party joined South Africa’s Government of National Unity (GNU) to prevent extremist parties, including the EFF and uMkhonto weSizwe, from gaining power.
Trump’s comments escalated tensions between Washington and Pretoria, particularly regarding South Africa’s land reform policy.
Trump described the policy as “seizure of land” from white farmers, a claim the South African government has denied.
Defiant in the face of criticism, Malema closed his speech by singing the chant on stage alongside supporters.
Meanwhile, Former president Thabo Mbeki defended the controversial “Kill the Boer” chant — widely sung by Malema — saying it was a symbolic expression rooted in the anti-apartheid struggle and not a literal call to violence.
Mbeki said the chant, used during the liberation struggle, was never intended to be taken literally and remains misunderstood by critics.
“It’s unchanged. I mean, that thing is a chant. It was a chant during the days of struggle,” Mbeki said in an interview with SABC News.
“Chants of that kind in our tradition, in the African tradition, you don’t take them literally.”
Politics
