Video by Timothy Bernard
Johannesburg - The singing of “Kill the Boer” by the EFF in 2010 was a “wake up call to the ANC” for its slow pace in dealing with land reform in South Africa.
This was the view of Prof Elizabeth Gunner, a visiting professor at the University of Johannesburg and African literature scholar.
Gunner on Friday took the stand in the AfriForum and EFF matter at the Equality Court sitting at the South Gauteng High Court.
AfriForum wants the court to force Malema to apologise for singing the song, saying it was the root cause of farm murders in the country.
The lobby group also wants Malema and his party to pay a fine of R500 000 to a non-governmental organisation to deal with issues of racial hatred.
But according to Gunner, the singing of the song by Malema back then in March 2010 was a “wake up call to President Jacob Zuma and the ruling ANC” of their slow pace in addressing land restitution in the country.
She said Malema was making a political statement through a song to his then party about the plight of resistive and disillusioned youth about their living conditions at the time.
“It was a long tradition of intergenerational politics. They are using songs as an expression of defiance against a system. They also used to show that they were not going to give up on their desire for land reform,” Gunner added.
She, however, emphasised that it was never meant to be carried out literally.
In court, she gave an example of another EFF’s song (Thupa Yetla - The Beating is coming) prior to their maiden participation in 2014.
She admitted that the song was directed at then president Zuma.
“The beating did not mean it was going to be physical. They were just saying they were carrying a lot of weight. So Jacob Zuma must watch them," Gunner said.
She also said Zuma’s own popular song of Umshini Wam, especially in 2005 was aimed at using a gun to usurp power.
“He did not expect to be given a gun but merely used his hands to demonstrate how power is gained using a gun. This is a form of inspiration to people to support the cause. Others join political parties due to songs,” Gunner said.
However, during cross-examination, Gunner was adamant that the singing of the song by Malema and his party was not aimed at committing genocide.
She was reacting to AfriForum’s legal counsel Adv Mark Oppenheimer who showed a ruling of the Rwanda Tribunal which found music producer Binkindi guilty of promoting genocide of the Tutsi in that country.
In reply, Gunner said: “The two cannot be compared. Binkindi belonged to an anti-Tutsi. There were three other radio stations that promoted propaganda. So the history of song in Rwanda should be carefully studied. But it cannot be the same in South Africa. Song has a strong lineage from the ANC, PAC and other organisations. Malema is just carrying out the tradition,” Gunner said.