South African opposition figure Julius Malema led his Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party on Sunday in chants of “Kill the Boer,” “Shoot to kill,” and “Kill the farmer,” while President Cyril Ramaphosa stayed quiet.
Malema posted footage of his own chant on X, including the incendiary words of the chant in his post.
The chant, which South African courts have refused to ban despite its potential for violent incitement and its apparent violation of the South African Constitution’s ban on hate speech, came up last week in Ramaphosa’s meeting in the Oval Office with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump made Ramaphosa sit through a video, including footage of Malema leading the chant, after the South African leader pushed back on Trump’s claims of “genocide” in his country.
When pressed by a reporter about whether he has “denounced that type of language,” Ramaphosa claimed, “Oh, yes. We’ve always done so. As a government, as my own party, we are completely opposed to that.” He referred to his party’s 1955 manifesto, the Freedom Charter.
Hellbound and Down 