South Africa: Julius Malema's Reverse Racism

While the antics of President Zuma have always generated intense and lively debate in the South African blogosphere, this time it is the controversial politician and the president of the African National Congress Youth League, Julius Malema, who's making headlines. Recently, Malema led students in singing an old Anti-Apartheid struggle song called Kill the Boer. He is facing criminal charges for the song.

Let's see reactions from South African bloggers.

Blogoff!!! writes a post entitled “Shoot the Boers, they are rapists!!!!”:

Julius Malema

He is such an imbecile, and they think that this little Pedi will become our next president. I am so immigrating to another country if he becomes our commander in chief. People think that Zuma makes us look like monkeys; well Julius will do way worse than the honourable JZ. . .in his sleep!!!

He sang an old struggle song “Shoot the Boers, they are rapists”! Wha! I love the fact that he believes in Democracy, but spreads hate speech!

Mr. Jackson Mthembu, spokesperson of the ANC, is actually defending him, saying it is not his fault and that he was quoted, or whatever, out of context. Well I think Julius is stupid and ignorant and a racist, but please do not quote me out of context! That is so not what I mean, hello!!

Rea from “My Life and World” discusses Malema's outburst in a post entitled, very aptly I might add, “Put down that scissors Malema, before someone gives you a damn hiding!!!!!”:

We all know what happens when you run with scissors right? Well that is exactly what Malema is doing right now, running around like a spiteful child who doesn’t want to listen to his mother. The moment when he falls down and stick himself in the eye all his little friends are going to abandon him and run away leaving him bleeding like a stuck pig. He won’t listen to anyone telling him what he should do.

You won’t believe that we are hosting the Fifa World Cup Soccer, the way he is acting. If he thinks any overseas visitors will come here to pump this country full of money when it seems as if unrest is at the order of the day here, he is in stall for a very rude awakening.

But coming off from Malema's rant, the ANC and the South African President were quick to defend one of their executive leaders.

Common Dialogue writes, “The ANC will talk to Malema about his racial utterances? That would be a first!”:

The ANC says it will “engage” Youth League president Julius Malema on his recent racial outburst at a student rally. Fat chance!
The party’s spokesperson Ishmael Mnisi said:”We are always in contact with the youth league, we will continue talking to them… even in this instance we would engage with them,” he said.
Malema, according to media reports, led students at the University of Johannesburg in a song saying: “Shoot the boere [farmers], they are rapists.”
Now, we all know that Malema has been insulting people including senior members of the ANC and its alliance partners at will. Nothing has happened to him.

A few old-school white South African's have joined the fray in the blogosphere pointing out the hypocrisy. Wessel's Place puts up his frustrations on his blog:

While Julius Malema was singing “Shoot the Boers” at an ANC Youth league rally, farmers were being killed in the Limpopo province.

And no black political leader said anything.

I find this sad. I find a great inconsistency in our country. If any white person uttered the words “Shoot the Zulu's” or “Shoot the Xhosa's”, they would have reason to fear for their lives. In fact, when someone dared finger the presidential convoy, this person was arrested and humiliated by the authorities.

I want to believe in this country. I want to believe in its potential. I want to believe that my children can grow up here without having to apologize for being white.

Blogging at My Digital Life, The Source puts up a fairly long rant entitled “Kill the Kafir song?”

So the ANC is defending Julius Malema for singing a song containing the lyrics, “Shoot the boere, they are rapists”.

ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu told Sapa by phone on Thursday morning that he will defend Malema and that the song should be seen in context (Read full article).

He continues to say:

“The issue is, indeed, some people might be correct that there might be songs we should not sing. Let them put them on the agenda and convince the ANC that we should not sing those songs and tell us why.

“But then they should also look at songs that were sung by the forces of oppression.”

Let’s look at this statement

Forces of oppression would most probably refer to the white government in the apartheid era and thereby extend to all whites I suppose.

Now I was in an Afrikaans school and I was also in the Voortrekkers. For those who don’t know, the Voortrekkers is like the boy scouts, but it celebrates the heritage of the Afrikaner nation who moved from the coastal regions inland toward what is now known as the Freestate, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo.

Alex Matthews at Thought Leader asks, “If killing the boers is OK, how about blacks, women and gays?” :

ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu has defended Julius Malema’s lusty renditions of the infamous “kill the boers, they are rapists” song, arguing (according to this Sapa article) that the “the lyrics of the song had been quoted out of context”.

“This song was sung for many years even before Malema was born. Julius doesn’t even know who’s the writer of the song. He got it from us [the ANC]. You must blame the ANC, don’t blame Julius. But when you blame the ANC, then contextualise it,” Sapa quotes Mthembu as saying.

By Mthembu’s logic, it is completely acceptable inciting people to kill others, provided there is “context”. What does that mean? Well, so as long as “kill the blacks” was an old apartheid song, embittered racists can chant it from the rooftops. So long as “kill the women” was some sort of misogynist anthem, chauvinists can do the Macarena to it in male-only clubs. So long as “kill the gays” was a major hit for bigots as they set lesbians alight, they can scream it as they throw the gays off bridges and into manholes.

Consequently, Malema has apologised, which ClassicMalema.co.za covers in “Malema Says Sorry”:

A very rare moment for this moron to apologise for his statements. I think the ANC came down on his ass big time. Is the road coming to an end for Ju Ju?

Azad Essa at Thought Leader posts up a brilliant satirical piece covering the dodgy contracts Julius Malema has amassed in his very well-endowed position in government,“Two kilo's of tenderised Malema, please!”:

With the country in a tizz after sizzling reactions to severe price hikes as “tenderised Malema” hit the newsstands, fictitious members of the ANC top-brass met at an emergency meeting on Monday to resolve the latest crisis in the party.

As news of government tenders enhancing the meagre salaries of government officials, their families, and their families’ families, appeared to have boosted newspaper record sales over the weekend, ANC leadership came to a set of binding resolutions in a bid to root out corruption in government.

In a dramatic shift the ANC released a statement early this morning saying that it is within the right of a senior cadre not to partake in government deals.

And what does Google think of Julius Malema?:

So heres the deal. Open www.Google.com and type in “Julius Malema is” – wait a second or two to see the suggestions that Google will recommend.

Hilarious

Definitetly, Zuma and Malema will remain a hot topic in the South African blogosphere for a long time.

22 comments

  • Too little and too late:
    My cousin, his wife and two kids have cancelled their 2010 soccer extravaganza trip to SA and their stay with us. They aparently read about the “Shoot the Boers….. ” from malema’s big mouth and the rape of the “emergecy services” saga.
    Their two German soccer friends have decided to transfer from JHB. International to Windhoek, Namibia, for a short holiday in the Etoshe Game Park, instead soccer and the Kruger Park.
    So we think visitors to our HEAVEN, are not informed?

  • I totally agree. With the World Cup literally around the corner, the actions and words of the government become paramount to the image of the country.

    These actions are doing far more damage socially, economically and politically.

    It is a real shame to see such events and incidents in a country that really has so much to offer.

  • ana

    It is necessary to remember the recent 70 yeras history when in Germany the nazis were starting to harasse jewish people. Nobody was believing that they will finally be killed in concentration camps. It is imperative for Afrikaaners to wake up and start to defend themselves or they will be soon genocide victims.

    • Ana, I think it is a far step to compare the two. It is one thing for an ill-educated, loose-tongued member of government to say things out of turn and for the entire government to be compared with the nazis.

      The country does have a scourge of crime, but that does not mean all afrikaners are now targeted and persecuted.

    • Sorry Ana, smell the khakibos, I am neither afrikaner, nazi or a member of our royal anc! I am a S. African and not so proud of it anymore. This jz – malema issue is going to bite you, me and our Country, no matter about something that happened 70 “yeras” ago!!
      I wonder how many other overseas vistors have been put off by what is happening and that, just lately?

    • petee piper who picked some peppers

      Dude.. what holocaust ??? you all ended up in South Africa !! now SHHHHHHHHHH blacks who are far from ignorant are wanting to claim their own lands for themselves the same way Israeli’s re-took Palestine from palestinians some 1500 years after isrtael first and only ever existed. i think they have every right to do so.. as they have every right to government based on one man equals one vote.. farms aquired by whites (mostly jewish or british elite) did so when blacks were omited from voting and regarded as animals unfit for humanity.. clearly you got it wrong.. CLEARLY !! these are just tyhe consequences unfortunately because black people are highly capable of mining their own lands building their own roads and cities given half a chance.. and didnt need a Boer war and apartheid to do so.

      • Mari

        To Petee Piper who is picking the wrong peppers!
        Can you really be that blind? You are saying that it is ok for innocent white farmers to be killed in S. Africa. My father bought his farm, he did not kill a black person for it, he did not throw anyone off of the farm but you say he should be killed because of others mistakes. He is currently employing abouth 16 black south africans, what should then happen to these good people after they murder him? Where will they find a job in this overcrowded suffering country? The farms that have been bought by government and given back to tribes are standing bare. Nothing is being done on them. You say they can build their own roads when they are not even trying to fix pothole problems…KFC had to jump in and save what they could afford to do or didn’t you hear about that?

  • Molie

    South Africa was put on the road to success by Walter Sisulu and Nelson Mandela. Can you imagine what a gigantic effort they put in to calm down the uneducated masses they led. They are the reason why SA did not go as Zim has.

    Imagine Nelson Mandela went on TV tomorrow and voiced his disappointment at all this bull shit. Iam sure we will have major reaction toward a positive outcome. Talk about our only hope besides assisination.

  • Racism is racism. Black or white. There is no such thing as “Reverse racism”

  • Ron Sinclair

    I am so sorry for this beautiful country South Africa.
    People like Malema who is protected by his ANC group of unreal people. All these people are corrupt and work only for themself and for nobody in this country.
    Zuma should be ashamed of protecting a guy like Malema and when I hear the ANC saying that ‘shout the boer’ is a cultural song, than I am really asking myself, what kind of people are we coping with. We got rid of apartheid and we got rid of the people who invented this and now we got this back!! Malema is a dangerous man and should be jailed. He is corrupt , treathens people and is inhuman and President Zuma, should show courage and get rid of this guy and all people that are supporting him (Malema), than we will respect him and South Africa would be getting on the right track. Get rid of corruption, Clean the police force and get rid of crime and get rid of people like Malema and South Africa will be flooded with foreign investment and unemployment will drop ato a very low level and people whould live must better
    I keep praying for that day. Politic is now just a joke.

  • […] is known for constantly making controversial statements. Last week our author Muhammad Karim wrote a post about Malema singing an old anti-Apartheid song Kill the […]

  • Cath

    I am passionate about my country but recently for the first time we (my husband and I) have started to wonder if this is the best place to raise our children – are we sure that we will be able to give them a stable, secure base, a proud heritage etc. The doubts are coming thick and fast and the research into emigration has begun but the thought of leaving this beautiful country makes me want to weep – not to mention the anger at the politicians and their ‘antics’ that are causing the doubt and fear amongst South Africans. Is it safe to adopt a wait and see attitude or do you run the risk of leaving it too late? That being said – the old adage comes to mind about the grass always seems greener on the other side until you get there and realise there is a septic tank underneath…

  • tegan

    It’s disgusting to think how this very powerful man abuses his position. His main followers are the underprivelidged and uneducated and they are easily bended to his will. Even if he says he was misinterpreted they may not understand and they will do what he says anyway. I fear for my life at the moment. As a white woman in south africa i don’t know if we stand a chance or if there is a massacre in store for us. Could Malema be the third antichrist?

  • glenn

    The racist rantings of Malema ,with the murder/assasin of Terreblanche that he enticed youth to do, timed in very well with the world cup. We wonder whether Malema realises that live by the sword die by the sword! Interesting times ahead, mate!

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