EFF leader Malema calls for an end to farm killings in South Africa — Daily Maverick
Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema, speaking at a rally in Soweto, South Africa, called for an end to the killing of farmers and said that the slogan calling for the killing of the Boer and the farmer was never intended literally. Daily Maverick reports.
Speaking at Orlando Stadium ahead of local elections, Malema said that his party had never called for the literal killing of people. He stressed that neither white nor black farmers, nor women, nor anyone else should die, and that South Africa should be a peaceful place for everyone.
Claims of white genocide
According to Malema, the killings of white farmers fuel what he considers a false narrative of an alleged “white genocide” in South Africa and harm the country’s image. The issue gained international attention after US President Donald Trump met South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House on May 21, 2025. Trump then showed Ramaphosa a video montage featuring Malema’s speeches in an attempt to substantiate his claim of an alleged genocide of whites in South Africa.
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Police data cited by the publication do not support this claim. Then Police Minister Senzo Mchunu stated on May 23, 2025, that five of the six victims of farm murders between January and March 2025 were black. In the previous quarter, 12 such killings were recorded, and only one victim, a farm owner, was white. According to South African police data, one farm murder was registered between April and June 2026, compared with six during the same period in 2025.
Court rulings on the slogan
The song containing this slogan has been considered by South African courts on several occasions. In 2011, the Equality Court found Malema’s performance of the song to be hate speech. However, in August 2022, a court considering a new complaint by the AfriForum organization ruled that the slogan was not hate speech. On May 28, 2024, the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed AfriForum’s appeal, stating that a reasonable listener would not understand the words as a literal call to kill farmers. On March 27, 2025, the Constitutional Court denied AfriForum leave to appeal further.
AfriForum and the Democratic Alliance party remain among the most active critics of the slogan. AfriForum has said that the song is hate speech and incites violence. William Gumede, a lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand’s School of Governance, noted that despite the song’s origins in the liberation struggle, it now intensifies division, fear and anger in society.
