The DA has welcomed the Western Cape equality court’s decision to find EFF leader Julius Malema guilty of hate speech, while he says the ruling is a distortion of history and philosophy, and trampled on freedom of speech. 

The court, sitting in Cape Town, found Malema guilty of hate speech on Wednesday for remarks he made at his party’s rally in 2022 after EFF members fought with residents at Brackenfell High School in Cape Town after allegations that the school’s matric dance was for whites only.

However, the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) later found the allegations to be false as the event was open to all pupils. 

At a rally a few weeks later, Malema told his supporters: “Tell that white man to try me. I’ll come many times here in the Western Cape, appearing in a court case because no white man is going to beat me up. And I call myself a revolutionary the following day. You must never be scared to kill. [The] revolutionary demands that at some point there must be a killing because killing is a revolutionary act.”   

The SAHRC and another individual opened cases of hate speech against Malema.

Reacting to the judgment, the DA said it was a victory for the rule of law, for the constitution, and for all South Africans who cherish the values of a free, fair, and nonracial society.

“For too long, the world has watched as Julius Malema has incited violence, hatred and division, attempting to unstitch the very fabric of South African society,” the party said in a statement.

“His hate speech was most recently aired live from the White House in a meeting between President Donald Trump, President Cyril Ramaphosa and a South African delegation.

“This type of divisive language is not just damaging on a local level; it has international repercussions as well. SA’s reputation on the global stage is at risk when such hatred is condoned or ignored.”

The FF Plus said it was high time Malema was brought to book. 

“Malema clearly started to think that he is untouchable and can insult, threaten and slander as he pleases with impunity — particularly after the appeal court ruling [which dismissed a case by AfriForum that argued the song “Kill the Boer” was hate speech],” the party said.

“President Cyril Ramaphosa would do well to note today’s court ruling, especially after he refused to condemn “Kill the Boer” when recently confronted about it by US President Donald Trump. 

The EFF said the court’s ruling was flawed as it reduced revolutionary speech to “criminality” and ignored the Brackenfell context in which the party claimed it was standing up for black pupils. 

“The EFF is a Marxist-Leninist and Fanonian movement, therefore our analysis of society recognises class and racial contradictions,” the party said. 

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