JOHANNESBURG
South African radical opposition figure Julius Malema on Monday hit back at US President Donald Trump’s demand that he be arrested for chanting the controversial “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer” song, claiming that Trump is afraid of his political party.
The Economic Freedom Fighters Party (EFF) leader addressed hundreds of supporters at a Youth Day rally in the coastal city of Durban, saying: “Comrades, let us build a strong organization.”
“You see this EFF party? Even Donald Trump is very scared of it. Even Elon Musk is very scared of this EFF,” he claimed.
The EFF, which was previously the third-largest party in parliament, lost support in last year’s elections, finishing fourth with 9.5% of the vote.
During his high-level Oval Office meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last month, Trump sought Malema’s arrest for chanting the controversial “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer” song, which he accused of inciting violence against white farmers in South Africa.
During their meeting to address growing trade and diplomatic tensions, Trump accused Ramaphosa of failing to take action against the alleged “white genocide” in South Africa, claiming that white farmers were fleeing to the US due to persecution.
Ramaphosa, however, calmly denied the allegations, saying there was no systematic persecution, murder, or confiscation of land targeting white farmers in his country.
Trump then asked that the room lights be dimmed and played a provocative video of Malema chanting the “Kill the Boer” song, questioning why he had not been arrested for it.
Last month, while in South Africa, Ramaphosa said no one will be arrested for singing the “Kill the Boer” song, asserting that it is constitutionally protected speech that should not be taken literally.
The song was not written by him, Malema said on Monday, adding that it is a song about the struggle against apartheid. Nobody will stop them from singing it. “It’s our heritage—we’ll defend it.”
He continued: “Comrades, we must not allow the US to dictate to us what needs to happen in South Africa.”
Malema also denied there was a white genocide in South Africa. “No one wants to kill White people. We are saying to white people, let us live together in peace, but we cannot live in peace unless you return what you stole from us (the land). That’s what we’re talking about; we’re not talking about killing anyone,” he said amid cheers from his supporters.
He said: “Elon Musk’s Starlink will never work (operate) in South Africa for as long as the EFF exists and as long as they do not want to comply with the law of South Africa.”
– Children of Palestine
The anti-imperialist leader said his party supports the children of Palestine who are fighting to defend their land, just as dozens of black South African students did during the 1976 Soweto uprising.
Black students, fed up with the policies of the then-white minority rule, marched to Johannesburg’s Soweto township to protest the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in schools, when police opened fire on them.
“The 1976 youth were killed because they refused to let others take over their land. Similarly, Palestinian children are fighting. We support the children of Palestine. We’ve been there before. We understand how it feels to be oppressed and deprived of our land,” he said.
Malema also called for African unity, which would include an army capable of protecting it, a currency, a parliament, and a leader.
