Justice Minister and NPA should explain why case against Malema is dragging on

23 May 2024

The Minister of Justice and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) should explain why there is such a delay in reaching a decision on the complaint of hate speech which the FF Plus lodged against the EFF leader, Julius Malema, last July.

The reply to a parliamentary question about the matter submitted to the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, indicates that the police had concluded its investigation last year already.

Among other things, the police took a warning statement from Malema and, according to Minister Cele, the dossier was handed to the NPA on 13 December 2023.

The FF Plus also submitted video footage, showing Malema singing the song “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer” and saying "Shoot to kill” during the EFF's tenth anniversary celebrations last year in the FNB Stadium in Soweto, along with the complaint of incitement to violence in terms of the Prevention of Public Violence and Intimidation Act.

The Minister did not say that the dossier was referred back to the police for further investigation, so, it is unacceptable that the NPA has been sitting on its hands for more than five months.

The FF Plus hopes that the upcoming elections are not contributing to the apparent indecisiveness.

Moreover, the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Act has recently come into effect. It prescribes very stringent action against racism and hate speech, and this case should be used as an opportunity to show that it applies to all South Africans.

Mr Malema's incitement to violence against farmers, regardless of their race, and white people in general is well documented, and over the years, the FF Plus and many others have lodged numerous complaints against him.

After the FF Plus lodged a complaint in 2000, the Human Rights Commission (HRC) ruled the song "Kill the Boer" hate speech, but so far, the EFF leader has kept making inflammatory statements with impunity.

His actions at the FNB Stadium with the EFF's tenth anniversary once again demonstrated his contempt for the law and the HRC.

The FF Plus is convinced that such inflammatory statements and songs incite people to commit violence and murder. There is no doubt that the "boer" mentioned in the song refers to white people.

A 2003 police report found that statements by politicians incite people to violence, and that it is one of the main causes of farm attacks and murders.

Over the last thirty years, the ANC government has created serious rifts in South African society with its racial policies, and official institutions have facilitated it through their silence and inaction.

It cannot go on like this. South Africa's Constitution very clearly stipulates that incitement to violence is not protected under the right to freedom of expression.

It is time for South Africa to usher in a new dispensation where there is mutual respect among all people and no selective legal action against racially divisive individuals.

Issued by Pieter Groenewald, FF Plus leader, 23 May 2024