South Africa’s highest court, the Constitutional Court, has refused to allow an appeal of a lower court’s decision that the phrase “Kill the Boer,” referring to Afrikaners and farmers, was not hate speech or incitement under the law.
The decision Thursday ended a years-long battle waged by AfriForum, which represents a broad array of Afrikaner organizations, against a song used by Julius Malema and his party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).
Malema has argued that the song is not meant to be taken literally — at least, not yet — as it was a song used by the liberation movements during the decades of the struggle against apartheid, which included armed conflict.
However, in the context of shocking farm murders, the song is seen by many people — especially Afrikaners and farmers — as a form of incitement to genocide.
South Africans, particularly the government, pride themselves on their 1996 Constitution and their judiciary — but as AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel said, “We are seeing an increasing radical implementation of the Constitution.”
Kriel and AfriForum recently visited the United States to raise awareness of the plight of Afrikaners. After President Donald Trump issued an executive order suspending aid to South Africa and offering asylum to Afrikaners, critics claimed that there was no threat whatsoever.
Wednesday’s “Kill the Boer” ruling might seem to suggest otherwise.
Malema performed the “Kill the Boer, the farmer” song, mimicking a machine gun, on Human Rights Day, March 21.
New Kill the Boer performance by the Malema and the EFF crew just dropped 🔥🔥🔥pic.twitter.com/mWC15rb9Ch
— Bryton 🇵🇸🇱🇧🇿🇦 (@BrytonsThoughts) March 21, 2025
Ironically, Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, a lawyer representing Malema, also appeared at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last year to argue that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reference to the Bible to inspire soldiers was incitement to genocide after the October 7, 2023, terror attack.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
