South African President Cyril Ramaphosa defended the “Kill the Boer” slogan as a “liberation chant” Tuesday, refusing U.S. President Donald Trump’s demand to arrest opposition figure Julius Malema for using it.
Last Wednesday, during a meeting in the Oval Office, Trump accused South Africa of “genocide” and showed a video of Malema and his Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party chanting “Kill the Boer,” “Kill the farmer,” “Shoot to kill,” and other violent slogans at large rallies.
Trump said that Malema ought to be arrested for incitement. Malema responded by repeating the slogan, both online and in another rally Sunday.
Ramaphosa denied that there was a “genocide” taking place — though others, like South Africa’s Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein, later said the term “genocide” was appropriate, given the fact that over 650,000 people had been murdered since 1994.
“It is not a white genocide, it is not a black genocide, it is a human genocide,” Goldstein said, noting that Ramaphosa never condemned the “Kill the Boer” chant, even in the Oval Office.
South Africa’s judicial system has failed to enforce the law against Malema — even though South Africa’s constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression, specifically prohibits “advocacy of hatred