Pitika Ntuli criticises Julius Malema's 'Kill the Boer' chant.
Image: File
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has once again been mired in controversy after he sang 'Kill the Boer' on Human Rights Day.
United States of America President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and even the US' Secretary of State Marco Rubio have been among Malema's loudest detractors. South African historian and professor Pitika Ntuli has joined the ranks, accusing Malema of being a provocateur.
"We are already in bad light in Trump's books. We took up his good friends, the Israelis, to the International Criminal Court (ICJ). That in itself is rattling in a very bad name," he said in an interview with Newzroom Afrika.
Ntuli said that there were numerous other struggle songs and questioned Malema's intent in singing 'Kill the Boer'.
"There are many other songs that could have been sung but the context in which we decide to remember what we went through and celebrate it, some of these songs would come, not because we are aiming and attacking other people," he said.
"Trump cannot come up here and try to steal our cousins (Afrikaners who want asylum in the US) when we are busy living with each other and making sense of who we are."
Ntuli said that politicians should not be giving any red herrings that Trump, Musk and others will use to pursue their agendas.
The professor received some pushback on his utterances on X.
EFF member Fani Sibeko responded that Ntuli should be embarrassed as a historian after espousing such beliefs.
Another X user posted: "According to South African Political analysts, we must not sing our struggle songs, but Afrikaners can still use their apartheid flags and shout 'make South Africa great again'."
In 2022, the South African Equality Court has ruled against AfriForum for its assertion that the words “kill the boer – kill the farmer” constituted hate speech.
Last year, AfriForum said it will be discussing the possibility of approaching the Constitutional Court, following a ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeal where the SCA dismissed AfriForum's appeal against the EFF regarding the singing of “Kill the Boer”.
The SCA ruled that the song was not hate speech.
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