Malema in hot water over ‘hate speech’

The Equality Court in Cape Town will on Monday hear a case of alleged hate speech by EFF leader Julius Malema. This follows a complaint by lobby group AfriForum to the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) in October 2020 over comments Malema made at a party meeting. AfriForum claims Malema said, “You must never be afraid to kill, a revolution requires killing at some point because killing is part of the revolutionary act.”

The SAHRC gave Malema 10 days to retract the statements and apologize or face court action. However, AfriForum says Malema refused to withdraw the comments. “Malema and the EFF believe that they are above the law,” said AfriForum’s Ernst van Zyl.

The rights group says it will ensure the SAHRC follows through on its promise to take Malema to court if he does not respond to its demands. Malema maintains his speech was taken out of context and he was not allowed to give his version of events. The Equality Court will now determine whether Malema’s words constituted hate speech that violated South Africa’s equality laws.