The media and commentariat’s reaction to the AfriForum vs Malema/EFF court case speaks volumes
Even though the most condemnable aspect of the AfriForum vs EFF “Kill the Boer” case most certainly was many parts of Julius Malema’s disturbing testimony under oath, the reactions from the media and members of the South African columnist party came a surprising close second. AfriForum’s legal team, spearheaded by Advocate Mark Oppenheimer, did a fantastic job in exposing the true militant, extremist Julius Malema, and his violent aspirations, to South Africa and the world.
However, instead of shining a bright spotlight on Malema’s heinous remarks, the media, with the odd exception, chose to make comments of his such as “I will be president one day, whether you like it or not” their headline story. The comment-class, in what can only be described as an allied united front, scrambled as if drafted, with their opinion pieces flashing like bayonets, to attack AfriForum for allegedly being just as fringe and reprehensible as the EFF they were taking on in court.
Stephen Grootes argued that the EFF and AfriForum are two sides of the same coin, with both being extreme and both taking part in a cynical exercise to divide the country for their own benefit. It is hard to fathom how twisted your analytical ability must be to so flippantly equate a prominent politician who refuses to pledge that he will never call for the slaughtering of an entire racial group, with the civil rights organisation with enough guts to expose him in court in an effort to stop his hate speech. The reply section to poor Pauli van Wyk’s approving tweet of Grootes’ opinion piece opened a floodgate of people on social media strongly supporting AfriForum, while tearing the opinion piece to pieces.
Next in line from the commentariat rushing in to answer the call of duty to fling mud at AfriForum, was Max du Preez. Du Preez’s line of reasoning was that all AfriForum managed to do with this case was to force most black and white South Africans “to take sides”. Max, if you genuinely struggle to choose a side between a party that blatantly refuses to promise that he will never call for the slaughter of white people, and a party which resorts to the rule of law to expose and prevent such repulsive hate speech, then your moral compass is hopelessly rotten.
Nickolaus Bauer opted for a shorter Twitter thread, instead of a heavy opinion piece, to execute his light cavalry attack as part of the anti-AfriForum front. His angle of attack was to cheaply and superficially smear the motives of me and my colleagues at AfriForum as a purely cynical, selfish, money-chasing exercise.