South Africa's president pushes back on Trump's demand to arrest politician who chanted 'kill the farmer'

Fox News

6 days ago

JOHANNESBURG - South African President Cyril Ramaphosa hit back Tuesday against President Donald Trump's demand that opposition politician Julius Malema should be arrested, for repeatedly chanting "kill the farmer."
Also on Tuesday, a senior politician within South Africa's government told Fox News Digital the chant "inflamed hatred" and called for "legal consequences."
In the White House Oval Office last week, President Trump had a video showing Malema making the chant shown to the then-visiting Ramaphosa. Trump told the South African leader that Malema should be arrested.
On Sunday, Malema, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) political party, which drew just under 10% of the vote in last May's South African election and is not part of the government of national unity, told a crowd of thousands at a rally in South Africa's Free State, "I will never be intimidated by Donald Trump."
Just four days after the president's call that he should be arrested, Malema launched into the chant again, shouting to cheers "Shoot to kill. Kill the Boer (Afrikaans farmer), the farmer." The Afrikaners are descendants of mostly Dutch settlers who first arrived in South Africa in 1652.
Appearing to want to emphasize defiance, Malema then chanted "I repeat, kill the Boer, the farmer."
Reacting to President Trump calling for Malema's arrest, President Ramaphosa on Tuesday told reporters there are no plans to detain the EFF leader. "It's not a matter where we need to be instructed by anyone (to) go and arrest this one. (Malema) We are a very proud sovereign country that has its own laws, that has its own processes."
Ramaphosa continued that South Africa's equivalent of the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court, had decided in 2022 the slogan "kill the Boer, kill the farmer" was only a decades-old "liberation chant and slogan, and it's not meant to be a message that elicits or calls upon anyone to go and be killed, and that is what our court decided." Critics point out that Malema sits on South Africa's Judicial Services Commission – the body that appoints judges here.
All of this is against the background of President Trump accusing South Africa of genocide against farmers and inviting so far 49 Whites to fly to the U.S. as refugees.
"That chant has no place in a democratic South Africa," the Democratic Alliance (DA) party's Ian Cameron told Fox News Digital. The DA is South Africa's main opposition party. They are members of the government of national unity, with Cameron serving as chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police.
Cameron said that Malema singing the chant again this past weekend was "continuing to divide society and inflame hatred and mistrust. (It) plays a specific role in why farm attacks in South Africa are so unique: while brutal attacks continue in rural areas, he sings that song with pride, and many of his supporters openly celebrate the violence on social media."
"I do believe that Julius Malema's repeated incitement—especially through songs like 'Kill the Boer', crosses a dangerous and unacceptable line," Cameron continued. "Freedom of speech is a cornerstone of democracy, but it cannot be used as a shield for promoting violence. At the very least, there should be legal consequences for incitement of violence, and our justice system must act without fear or favor."
Ramaphosa said he was not going to have people arrested "willy nilly," adding on Tuesday, "we are a country where freedom of expression is the bedrock of our constitutional arrangement."
None of this has phased Malema, who is on record saying, "I will sing the song as and when I like."
Fox News Digital reached out to Malema but received no response.
Attacks on both White and Black farmers here are real. Cameron told Fox News Digital, "I've personally stood in the aftermath of these attacks. I've walked into scenes that resembled abattoirs. I remember one farm where the victim's fingernail marks were still embedded in the carpet from where he was dragged and tortured. These are not ordinary crimes and often include disproportionate violence."