The EFF and Farm Murders: 

With the South African supreme court preparing to hear a landmark appeal against an equality court ruling on hate speech, the Economic Freedom Fighters claim that their use of the song ‘Burn the Boer’ is synonymous with ‘Kill the Boer’ insofar as both chants are ‘non-literal political speech.’ 

‘Call the fire brigade/Burn the Boer’ was sung by EFF members, most notably MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, outside of a Free State court in support of those appearing in court over the murder of Senekal farmer Brendin Horner in October 2020. Horner’s remains were found tied to a metal post with a large rope fixed around his neck, strangulation was determined as the cause of death, although signs of torture were visible. Additionally, he had stab wounds to his face, head, shoulders, arms and hands. 

According to journalist Jason Felix, the EFF is arguing that due to the Equality Courts’ previous ruling on the matter, the Supreme Court of Appeal should either fully prohibit or fully clear both chants. Claiming that in the chants, ‘Boer’ only figuratively means farmer, Malema and Mbuyiseni continue “Had [we] intended to use the word ‘Boer’ as reference to an ethnic group of Afrikaaners, then the interchangeable use of the term from Afrikaans to English would have been ‘kill/kiss the Boer, kill/kiss the Afrikaner.”

The threat of violence continues: 

With appeal court proceedings convening in September, AfriForum leader Kallie Kriel claims that the law of incitement has been long established “as just that: instigating others to do something.” Furthermore, the group stated that the issue was not about protected speech, “Section 16 of the constitution protects freedom of expression, but not ‘advocacy of hatred based on race, ethnicity, gender or religion and that constitutes incitement to cause harm.” 

The landmark ruling stands to protect or endanger thousands, with the body of 60-year-old Biesiesvlei farmer Dr Carel Nel found this morning. Preliminary reports claim several gunshot marks were found on the walls and doors of the home. Although nothing of value was stolen, a common modus operandi of farmer attackers whose intent is solely to kill. 

These racist hate crimes and those that instigate them with racist chants like @Julius_S_Malema and the @EFFSouthAfrica, will not go unpunished. Watch this space … https://t.co/KLIHg42urY

— Kallie Kriel (@kalliekriel) August 2, 2023