THE powerful presentation by firebrand South African opposition party EFF leader Julius Malema at the Johannesburg High Court is yet another confirmation that South Africa is stuck in a vortex in so far as pan-Africanism is concerned. 

The presentation was during the ongoing civil case brought to the courts by Afrikaner outfit AfriForum over the singing of liberation struggle song ‘Dubula ibhunu/Shoot the Boer’ last week 

AfriForum claims the song incites black South Africans to rise against white farmers who own and control the majority of both agricultural and commercial land in that country.

Malema argues the vast majority of South Africans have not benefitted from one of the grievances of the fight against apartheid, an assertion that has duly gained traction across the globe, particularly in Zimbabwe where the masses have benefitted from land that was distributed under the Land Reform Programme of 2000.

While it has not been smooth sailing for Zimbabwe which has been unfairly slapped with illegal economic sanctions over the land reform, the push by the EFF has unsettled powerful white South Africans who are pulling all stops to halt the inevitable.

One way or another, and in spite of relentless effort by the white capital monopoly to frustrate the redistribution of land, the land question will be resolved in South Africa.

This is why AfriForum, an entity which does little to mask its make, shape, form and interests, has taken Malema to court and is curiously pushing for criminal prosecution over the singing of the iconic liberation struggle song.

Established on March 26 2006, the organisation which has dabbled in Zimbabwean politics through its member, Willie Spies, who convened a two-day regime change agenda gathering on May 10-11 2019 at the Parktonian Hotel, Braamfontein, South Africa, where he emphasised the need for what he said would push ‘political revolution in Zimbabwe’. 

“There is political and economic disorder in Zimbabwe which can only be corrected through a political revolution,” said Spies.

“It is not easy to remove a revolutionary party from power, but it calls for men and women of strong character, those who are radical and determined to face Government apparatus.”

A perusal of AfriForum’s website reveals deep rooted affection for the Afrikaners.

Afrikaners constitute just four million of South Africa’s 56,5 million total population according to 2017 figures by Statistics South Africa.

“The organisation was created to call up Afrikaners to participate in public debate and actions outside of the sphere of party politics. AfriForum is not an ordinary organisation, but a tool for us and our descendants to create a better future by executing AfriForum’s three-pronged success recipe for hope,” reads the pro-apartheid website.

“AfriForum, as a trustworthy Afrikaner interest organisation and civil rights watchdog, which forms part of the Solidarity Movement, works to ensure that the basic prerequisites for the continued existence of Afrikaners are met by working outside the workplace on international, national and local level to manage the impact of, and influence the, current political realities that face Afrikaners, while working simultaneously to establish sustainable structures through which Afrikaners are able to ensure their own future independently.

AfriForum’s actions should contribute to the protection and growth of the Afrikaner identity, culture, history and the Afrikaans language in order for Afrikaners to continue to permanently exist as a community whilst protecting their identity.”

There is little surprise that there is no black face or person on the listed management executive on its website.

But AfriForum’s push for criminal prosecution against Malema is for their satisfaction and their white kith and kin more than anything else.

Without the land, that malicious organisation is nothing in a world that draws its survival from that asset.

Which is why it is not so difficult to unravel why they want Malema silenced.

Malema stands for black identity. 

He is a towering icon of the push for equality and economic empowerment of not only South Africans, but Africans in general.

As such, these traits, these actions and this bravery by Malema does not sit well with white South Africans who are now coming to terms with the inescapable fact that they are living on borrowed time.

So, through AfriForum, they first filed a complaint against Malema, EFF member Mbuyiseni Ndlozi and the EFF party in October 2020 after the South African opposition party supporters sang the popular song outside the Magistrates’ Court in Senekal during the bail hearing of those accused of murdering Free State farm manager Brendin Horner.

AfriForum claimed the song was ‘hate speech towards white farmers’. 

Head of policy and action at AfriForum Ernst Roets called for “…an order that Malema, Ndlozi and the EFF have committed hate speech, that they must apologise publicly and that they must pay a fine to an organisation that strives to combat hate speech.” 

Last week, they were back again at the courts, pushing for Malema to be silenced.

However, they found the EFF leader in a typically defiant, buoyant mood and mode.

“Anyone who sings it will be well justified to sing it,” said Malema. 

“It’s a struggle song and our struggle was not hate. 

It was a struggle for freedom.

A boer will mean a farmer, to us. 

Because farmers are the face of land dispossession. 

It’s the struggle for land. 

It’ll always be used inter-changeably. 

It has always been the case. 

To show that the concept ‘boer’, or white, or umlungu does not refer necessarily to a particular race

Ours is a struggle against a system of oppression that has robbed us of our land and our economy. 

And that’s what we’re engaged in,

When the system collapses, they will all appreciate that we’re all equal, and therefore there is no one who’s superior to the other. 

And that’s how they will take accountability. 

They (whites) are not (equal). 

They’ve got more. 

And we have less.”

When all is said and done, the reality of lives and times is that there can never be equality in the absence of equitable distribution of land and resources.

This is not Malema’s fight alone. 

It is every black person’s fight, a fight for belonging and a negation of colonialism and all its remnants.

Let those with ears listen.