AfriForum has lost its hate speech case against the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) over the use of “Shoot the boer” yesterday. The case was dismissed with costs.
AfriForum’s case dealt with six instances between 2016 and 2019 in which the struggle song Dubul‘ ibhunu, “Shoot the boer”, was used by members of the party and by EFF leader Julius Malema at public events.
In response to AfriForum’s Ernst Roets giving expert evidence, Judge Edwin Molahlehi said that even on AfriForum’s version, Roets was disqualified from being an expert witness in this matter and didn’t meet the standard required of an expert witness.
The judge found much of the evidence of AfriForum’s other witnesses was not of assistance to the court. Moreover, AfriForum hadn’t been able to show that the EFF had contravened the Equality Act.
He found no reason to reject Malema’s evidence. He also accepted the evidence of the EFF’s expert witness.
EFF’s Leanne Mathys said: ‘The court ruled that the song must actually be protected under the rubric of free speech and debates around this song must be left to political contestation within our society.
‘The case by these racists, who actually sought to erase the cultural element of our liberation struggle in South Africa has fallen flat on its face. The landmark judgment must be welcomed by all progressive forces as a victory against racists.’
Roets said that they would be taking the case on appeal.
‘We are concerned that we live in a political system in a country, a legal system where it’s quite obvious and this ruling makes it quite obvious that when a leader of a political party blatantly and openly romanticises violence towards minority communities it is condoned and it is accepted by the courts. That’s something we cannot accept,’ he said adding that the ruling contained ‘several fundamental errors’.
Roets said that despite his testimony and the arguments by AfriForum’s legal team, they repeatedly stated that the test for something being hate speech does not depend on a causal link.