South African President Cyril Ramaphosa appears to be protecting opposition politician Julius Malema, who has been leading public calls to murder white farmers in the country.
President Donald Trump has demanded that Ramaphosa have Malema arrested if he’s serious about tackling the mass killings of white farmers in South Africa.
Trump asserted that Malema should be arrested for repeatedly chanting “kill the farmer.”
However, Ramaphosa hit back against Trump’s demand on Tuesday.
Also on Tuesday, a senior politician within South Africa’s government backed Trump, noting that the chant “inflamed hatred” and called for “legal consequences.”
In the White House Oval Office last week, Trump confronted then-visiting Ramaphosa and played a video showing Malema making the chant during rallies.
Trump told the South African leader that Malema should be arrested.
Malema is leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) political party.
The EFF drew just under 10% of the vote in last May’s South African election.
However, the party is not part of the government of national unity.
On Sunday, Malema told a crowd of thousands at a rally in South Africa’s Free State:
“I will never be intimidated by Donald Trump.”
Just four days after Trump’s call that he should be arrested, Malema launched into the chant again.
During the rally, he was shouting to cheers:
“Shoot to kill. Kill the Boer (Afrikaans farmer), the farmer.”
The Afrikaners are descendants of mostly Dutch settlers who first arrived in South Africa in 1652.
Farmland that has been in families for hundreds of years is being confiscated, and the owners are murdered.
Appearing to want to emphasize defiance, Malema then chanted:
“I repeat, kill the Boer, the farmer.”
Reacting to Trump calling for Malema’s arrest, President Ramaphosa told reporters on Tuesday that there are no plans to detain the EFF leader.
“It’s not a matter where we need to be instructed by anyone [to] go and arrest this one [Malema],” he said.
“We are a very proud sovereign country that has its own laws, that has its own processes.”
Ramaphosa continued that South Africa’s equivalent of the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court, had decided in 2022 the slogan “kill the Boer, kill the farmer” was only a decades-old “liberation chant and slogan, and it’s not meant to be a message that elicits or calls upon anyone to go and be killed, and that is what our court decided.”
Critics point out that Malema sits on South Africa’s Judicial Services Commission, the body that appoints judges there.
It comes after Trump accused South Africa of genocide against farmers.
Trump has invited 49 white farmers, so far, to fly to the U.S. as refugees.
“That chant has no place in a democratic South Africa,” the Democratic Alliance (DA) party’s Ian Cameron said in a statement.
The DA is South Africa’s main opposition party.
They are members of the government of national unity.
Cameron is serving as chairman of the Portfolio Committee on Police.
He said that Malema singing the chant again this past weekend was “continuing to divide society and inflame hatred and mistrust. (It) plays a specific role in why farm attacks in South Africa are so unique: while brutal attacks continue in rural areas, he sings that song with pride, and many of his supporters openly celebrate the violence on social media.”
“I do believe that Julius Malema’s repeated incitement—especially through songs like ‘Kill the Boer,’ crosses a dangerous and unacceptable line,” Cameron continued.
“Freedom of speech is a cornerstone of democracy, but it cannot be used as a shield for promoting violence.
“At the very least, there should be legal consequences for incitement of violence, and our justice system must act without fear or favor.”
Ramaphosa said he was not going to have people arrested “willy-nilly.”
“We are a country where freedom of expression is the bedrock of our constitutional arrangement.”
None of this has phased Malema, who is on record saying:
“I will sing the song as and when I like.”
Attacks on both white farmers in South Africa are very real.
In a statement, the DA party’s Cameron explained:
“I’ve personally stood in the aftermath of these attacks.
“I’ve walked into scenes that resembled abattoirs.
“I remember one farm where the victim’s fingernail marks were still embedded in the carpet from where he was dragged and tortured.
“These are not ordinary crimes and often include disproportionate violence.”
READ MORE – Trump Praised for Exposing Appalling ‘Genocide’ in South Africa
