The Johannesburg High Court has ruled that the controversial political song which contains the lines ’Dubul’ ibhunu’, translated as “Shoot the boer” or “Kill the boer”, does not constitute hate speech.
AfriForum, which operates as a student organisation dealing with a range of issues from education to political interference in student affairs, brought the action arguing that the song which is often sung at political rallies for the EFF party is hateful and incites violence against white South Africans.
It was also argued that the lyrics incite race the fuelled ‘farm murders’which gained notierity in the 2018 documentary Farmlands.
Shockingly the court found the song does not constitute ‘hate speech’ in spite of its direct calls to shoot or kill white people specifically.
HAPPENING NOW:
EFF supporters chanting "Kill the boer, the farmer!" outside the South Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg. pic.twitter.com/FB2mkN4Cdx
— Conscious Caracal 🇿🇦 (@ConCaracal) August 25, 2022
EWN News reports, “The lobby group’s case centred on some six instances between 2016 and 2019 in which the struggle song Dubul’ ibhunu, which translates to “Shoot the boer”, was used by members of the party, as well as by EFF leader Julius Malema himself, at rallies and the like.”
IOL News reports: “Judge Edwin Molahlehi said he has no reason to reject the evidence given by Malema who testified earlier this year and explained the context and history of such struggle songs.”
“He further dismissed expert witnesses’ evidence brought before the court to testify by AfriForum.”
“Molahlehi dismissed the case against the EFF with costs.”
The EFF released a statement celebrating the victory saying,
“The scathing judgement dismissed decisively the baseless case as concocted by self-proclaimed racist experts of AfriForum and was founded on hearsay.
“In a landmark judgement, the court ruled today, that AfriForum failed to show that the lyrics of the song contravene the Equality Act or demonstrate a clear intention to harm or incitement.
“Furthermore, the court ruled that the song must be protected under the rubric of free speech, and debate around the song must be left to the political contestation within society,” the party said.
It said the court finding the singing of ‘’Dubul’ ibhunu’’ and the incitement of harm to a person or robbery of a farm had no link.
The party has consistently emphasised that its liberation chants and struggle song, are not instructions and none of its supporters recognised it as such.
“This aspect of the judgment is critical, as it not only undermines the baseless narrative by Swaart-Gevaar proponents, who want to create a picture that there is a white genocide in South Africa, but also undermines the racist trope that black people are irrational beings, who will kill because of a chant or a song.
“The case by the racists, which sought to erase the cultural element of the liberation struggle in South Africa, has fallen flat on its face,”.