Latest news with #Afrikaner
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Who is Julius Malema, the South African politician behind 'kill the farmer' chant?
JOHANNESBURG - Julius Malema, the South African politician who President Donald Trump wants arrested for repeatedly chanting "kill the farmer," is reportedly a Rolex watch-wearing Gucci revolutionary, often seen in snazzy, expensive clothes, who champions the poor from a luxury mansion in what is said to be South Africa's richest street. He has also called for the further arming of the terror group Hamas and has been accused of stealing millions of dollars from the very pensioners he is trying to get to vote for him. Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with a video of Malema shouting "Shoot to kill, Kill the Boer (the Afrikaner), kill the farmer," when the South African president, a neighbor of Malema's in Johannesburg, visited the Oval Office earlier this month. South Africa's President Pushes Back On Trump's Demand To Arrest Politician Who Chanted 'Kill The Farmer' Trump has offered Afrikaner farmers, descendants of mostly Dutch settlers, refuge in the U.S., citing controversial and disputed claims that they are facing White genocide and forced land seizures. The self-styled commander in chief of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Party, Malema, a Marxist-Leninist, was the head of the Youth League of South Africa's biggest party, the African National Congress (ANC), but he was kicked out for bad-mouthing its leadership. Read On The Fox News App In last year's election, votes for the EFF slumped to under 10%, and both of Malema's sidekicks, party co-founders and men he described as "brothers," left him and joined a competing party. So it did not come as a surprise to many that, allegedly to spite President Trump, Malema just days later jumped up, literally, onto the stage at the very next rally he was due to appear at to yell "Kill the farmer, I repeat kill the farmer." In 2022, South Africa's Constitutional Court, the equivalent of the U.S. Supreme Court, ruled the chant is not hate speech, declaring it is only the words of a song. Malema sits on the Judicial Services Commission, a body which appoints the Court's judges. To Malema, critics say, the chant may be more than just song lyrics. At least twice he told reporters here, "We have not called for the killing of White people – at least for now." On another occasion, he demanded, "We will cut the throat of Whiteness." Trump, South Africa In Growing Row Over Hotly Contested Land Law, Country's Deals With Us Foes Some say Malema is running two strategies - one which follows the mantra "There's no such thing as bad publicity," and the other to act like a small child that makes a lot of noise, hoping to be noticed, but with little real effect. Analyst J. Brooks Spector told Fox News Digital that Malema "has crafted a political reputation as the 'bad boy' of South African politics." Spector, a former U.S. diplomat who lives in Johannesburg and is associate editor of the Daily Maverick, continued. "In a country with a third of its workforce unemployed, and higher among young people, and poverty still a fact of life for many more, his (Malema's) populism initially drew significant support and enthusiasm among voters. However, his popularity as a political leader has faded somewhat." Malema openly supports the terror group Hamas, telling a rally in 2023, shortly after the October 7 attack on Israel, "when you are oppressed, you only have one option, shoot to kill. There is nothing wrong with what Hamas is doing. The EFF is going to arm Hamas." He also shouted he intended to shut down the Israeli Embassy in South Africa. "We are going to remove this embassy," he yelled to loud cheers. Allegations also suggest that Malema and his then right-hand man, Floyd Shivambu, benefitted from "dodgy" deals with the South African VBS bank, which subsequently collapsed, leading to people losing their pension savings. "In 2018, the VBS scandal exposed widespread looting by bank officials and politicians, including senior leaders of the EFF, Floyd Shivambu and Julius Malema," the Opposition Democratic Alliance's (DA) Baxolile Nodada stated last August. On Friday, the DA's federal executive member and national spokesperson, Willie Aucamp, told Fox News Digital the DA "isn't letting the VBS scandal fade into the background. Not when over R2 billion ($111 million) was looted from pensioners, struggling municipalities, and poor communities. The DA has been leading the charge to expose those behind this daylight robbery, including Julius Malema, leader of the EFF." He continued, "The DA laid criminal charges back in 2018, but six years later, not a single charge has been prosecuted by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). Justice for the victims of VBS is long overdue. The DA will continue pushing for the arrest and prosecution of every single person involved - Malema included." Speaking in Cape Town in July last year, Malema said "I will never be intimidated by VBS. No leader of the EFF received VBS money." But now that Malema is on Donald Trump's radar, the president might push back powerfully on Malema's links to Hamas and the VBS saga, Max Meizlish, senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital. "Like the ANC that courts Iran and supports Hamas, Julius Malema would be wise to not provoke Donald Trump. After all, Malema was clearly implicated in the VBS scandal and has openly called to "arm Hamas." Malema could very well find himself the target of Global Magnitsky Act sanctions — a tool which President Trump can wield unilaterally and at a moment's notice," Meizlish article source: Who is Julius Malema, the South African politician behind 'kill the farmer' chant?
IOL News
6 hours ago
- Politics
- IOL News
Trump's pastor Mark Burns speaks out against Malema and EFF's 'Kill the Boer' chant
Described as US President Donald Trump's top pastor, Mark Burns, is visiting southern Africa and said he is convinced that there is no genocide against white Afrikaner farmers. Image: Timothy Bernard / Independent Newspapers US based Pastor Mark Burns, a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump believes the EFF and its leader Julius Malema should not be taken seriously and are attention-seekers for chanting the 'divisive' 'Kill the Boer, kill the farmer' chant. The African American televangelist, described by Time magazine as Trump's top pastor, was in South Africa on a fact-finding mission following widespread and repeatedly disputed claims of genocide against white Afrikaner farmers. In an interview in Johannesburg this week, Burns suggested that the EFF is losing steam and is slowly fizzling out. 'To my understanding he (Malema) is a minor character and he is slowly fizzling out. I don't want to keep bringing his name up to give him a platform but the reality of it is, that most South Africans don't take him seriously at all, whether you're black or white,' he said. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ 'I don't want to give oxygen to his name to be honest with you. He doesn't have the steam he may once have had and when those videos (were taken) of him singing that song 'Kill the Boer' there were massive crowds but he doesn't have that type of steam anymore'. He dismissed Malema as 'just a character who is screaming, trying to garner attention for himself'. 'That song is a divisive song and I am saying that as a black man, who is very proud that the apartheid government is no longer here, as a man of faith, anything that will cause my brother to stumble should not happen,' Burns explained. He said he understood the historical significance of the song. 'Being a black man, speaking from a black perspective, coming from a nation that once had slaves and up until the 1960s the modern day civil rights movement, many of us didn't even have the right to vote. So it's still not too long ago. "I understand the struggle, I understand the significance of Negro spirituals that were sung during slavery time periods as people were picking cotton, working the fields and it was a way of communicating messages between each other,' added Burns. He explained that some of the songs were designed around killing or about fleeing but they were special. 'They had a significant part then but they don't play a role in society today. You place them in a history book, you may teach people about it but you don't actively bring it to modern day society when apartheid doesn't exist in South Africa,' Burns maintained. Trump played a video of Malema chanting "Kill the Boer, kill the farmer" a recent Oval Office meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa, with the US President asking Ramaphosa why the EFF leader had not yet been arrested. Last weekend, Malema said he would not be silenced and intimidated by Trump and added that South African courts have ruled there is nothing wrong with the chant, which was not his as he had not composed it. Malema added that Struggle heroes composed the chant and he is defending the legacy of the chant as part of the Struggle heritage. Burns, the founder and chief executive of the NOW television network also expressed his opposition to the country's broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) policies. 'Yes, it (B-BBEE) is designed to help people of colour to gain access to equal opportunities for economic empowerment while at the same time it should not alienate other people who also want to come to the forefront regardless of the colour of their skin,' said Burns. He said he believed B-BBEE is prohibitive to investment and is causing people to revisit investing in South Africa. 'It blocks other people from around the world, especially the US if they feel coming to South Africa will prevent other people prospering simply for the colour of their skin,' Burns insisted. He proposed revisiting B-BBEE while accepting that 'it is desirable to those who traditionally for 300 years did not have access to the opportunities that now exist'.
IOL News
11 hours ago
- Politics
- IOL News
10, 9, 8 . . . South Africa's slide into decline
THABO Mbeki endured eight days in September, a turbulent period in 2008 that led to his ousting as President of the Republic. With Jacob Zuma, it was the so-called nine wasted years, a presidency characterised by state capture and economic decline. For President Cyril Ramaphosa it was a case of ten minutes of shame, and it happened on the world stage. The meeting between Ramaphosa and US President Donald Trump started well. It should have been a sign. When it is too good to be true, it probably isn't. Ramaphosa must have been nervous but, for the first 20 minutes, he came across as relaxed, in control and, at times, even jovial. He had clearly learnt from the ill-fated encounter Volodymyr Zelenskyy had with Trump. In contrast to the Ukraine president, Ramaphosa, went out of his way to thank Trump and praise him. And then, about 20 minutes into the meeting, Trump asked for the lights to be dimmed. What followed was a video of Julius Malema addressing supporters. In a voice that is now familiar to most South Africans, he chanted 'Kill the Boer, kill the farmer' and spoke about expropriating land of white farmers without compensation. The mood in the room changed. The chant was now exposed to a global audience. There was no context and, as a result, it came across as crude. Inciteful. Shameful. Ramaphosa wiped his face. He was probably hot in his suit and tie. There were also bright camera lights, and the room was packed with people. But those who study body language claim it could also be a sign of anxiety – perhaps a desire to wipe away a problem or stress. But this problem was not going away. The chant was first uttered by Peter Mokaba, a former president of the ANC Youth League. He did so while addressing a rally following the murder of Chris Hani by right-wing whites. The chant has always been contentious. But the Equality Court found it did not constitute hate speech and should be protected as freedom of speech. Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum did approach the Constitutional Court to appeal the matter, but the court found the application had no reasonable prospect of success. As a result, Malema cannot be arrested for singing the song, as suggested by Trump. Ramaphosa did point out that official government policy was completely against what Malema said. But what Ramaphosa didn't say was that neither he nor others in the ANC have done enough to distance themselves from the chant. After the voice of Julius Malema, came another voice well known to most South Africans – Jacob Zuma. These days, he is the leader of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party. But not too long ago he was the leader of the ANC and President of the Republic. In the recordings played, he too had a go at white farmers. When the video ended, US Vice President JD Vance handed his president a thick stack of pages that reportedly depicted the brutality of the attacks on white farmers. The DA's John Steenhuisen, in his role as agriculture minister in Ramaphosa's executive, put up a spirited defence: 'They are both leaders of opposition minority parties,' he said. 'The reason my party, the DA, chose to join hands with Mr Ramaphosa's party was precisely to keep those people out of power. We cannot have these people sitting in the Union Buildings making decisions.' But by then the world had realised that not all was well in South Africa. At best we are a violent bunch. At worst we are a racist nation. In those ten minutes, South Africa had been exposed. In his own unique rhetoric, Trump summed it up: 'There are many bad things happening in many countries, but this is very bad – very, very bad!' It didn't matter whether Trump had the full facts or not. He had enough to paint a picture, and it wasn't a rosy one. Anyone wanting to visit the country or invest in it would have been forced to reconsider. Trump then invited three men he knew and clearly admired to say a few words. They were businessman Johann Rupert and golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen. It was ironic that it took an American president to invite the men to speak because it was a courtesy their own government had not offered them – certainly not in recent years and not in public. Yet these were no ordinary men. Rupert is a celebrated businessman who is one of the richest people in South Africa. Els and Goosen are both masters at the game of golf. The second irony was that while the voices of Malema and Zuma have become so well known, the voices of Rupert, Els and Goosen have rarely been heard in South Africa. Yet, they are the kind of people whose opinion should be sought and whose success we should emulate. It speaks to the society we have become. It is one where those who seek to antagonise and break apart become popular, while those who seek to build are ignored. It is a society that places credibility on those who shout the loudest and avoids those with integrity. In this society, mediocrity is celebrated and merit shunned. It is no wonder then that South Africa finds itself in an economic mess. The economy is barely growing and certainly not at levels that will create meaningful jobs. For more than a decade and half the country has been sliding into economic decline. The projections for the coming year are dismal. Economic growth is projected at 1.4% with slight increases in 2026 and 2027 but nowhere near enough to create meaningful jobs for a growing population. The solution to the problem emerged in the White House get together. 'We need more foreign investment in our country,' urged Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi. "If the South African economy does not grow, the culture of lawlessness and dependency will grow,' said Rupert, mirroring the sentiments of organised labour. It means that if our president wants to change the trajectory of economic growth, it cannot be more of the same. There are a few realities that must be acknowledged. No one will invest in a place where they must give away a chunk of a business they have nurtured. No one will invest in a country where they can't hire the best talent for the job. No one will put their money where the government can take away their land for nil compensation. And no one will invest in a place they don't feel safe in. If the South African government is to change the fortunes of this country, it needs to ditch broad based black economic empowerment. People need to be hired on the basis on merit and not skin colour. Land expropriation without compensation needs to be reconsidered. Above all, South Africa needs to make investors feel safe. But the clock is ticking. This Government of National Unity is at the end of their first year of a five-year term in office. As Steenhuisen warned: 'This government, working together, needs the support of our allies around the world, to grow our economy and shut the door forever on that rabble.' That 'rabble' is the EFF and MK. Combined they got one out of every four votes cast in the last general elections. If this government cannot improve the fortunes of ordinary South Africans, support for the so-called rabble will rise and Constitutional Democracy may be done for. Then, what Donald Trump thinks South Africa is, will become our reality.10, 9, 8, 7, 6 5, 4 …..
IOL News
a day ago
- Politics
- IOL News
Mark Burns, Trump's top pastor, challenges genocide claims against white farmers in South Africa
Described as US President Donald Trump's top pastor, Mark Burns, is visiting southern Africa and has already been convinced that there is no genocide against white Afrikaner farmers in South Africa. Image: Timothy Bernard / Independent Newspapers Televangelist Mark Burns, described by Time magazine as US President Donald Trump's top pastor, is convinced that widespread claims that there is genocide of white farmers under way in South Africa are absolutely untrue. Burns is visiting southern Africa, and his trip has already helped him debunk allegations of genocide against white Afrikaner farmers. The founder and chief executive of the NOW television network has been invited by the global network of Muslim leaders, Concordia Forum, and its founder and president, Muddassar Ahmed, for an interfaith dialogue to continue bridging the gap between the two faiths and others around the world to promote peace, prosperity, and unity. Their mission is to promote peaceful situations around the world where there are conflicts. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad Loading Burns said he sees the strong ties between the United States and South Africa, which he indicated was a beautiful thing that he will get to take back home. 'Thank God, there is no conflict here in South Africa. Your government is clearly a powerful, stable nation. The big elephant in the room – the meeting that took place in the Oval Office between President Cyril Ramaphosa and Trump,' he said. Burns, who described Trump as his 'dear friend of 12/13 years', said the question being asked is: 'Is there white genocide happening in South Africa?' He added: 'As a peace mission that I have, is white genocide taking place, are white farmers being targeted or having their land taken away forcibly in this country? I have been just blown away by having great access to white Afrikaner farmers and those that represent farmers from around your entire country.' Burns said he has met small and commercial farmers and was able to meet with white business manufacturing owners and hear from their perspectives what is actually happening in South Africa. 'Not to my shock again, you were able to hear their perspectives. From their point of view, being white Afrikaners, there is absolutely no genocide or white genocide in South Africa. They believe Trump was fed erroneous information for whatever reason they don't know,' Burns explained. He said in his understanding, the farmers he met were all shocked to discover that such a thing as white genocide was happening in South Africa. 'From that point of view, they pivoted that there absolutely is a crime issue, there is a high murder rate, and many of them spoke about worrying about their safety, not because they are white but because they don't feel as protected as they should be,' Burns stated. He said he was informed in the meetings that over 5,200 murders had occurred in the last reporting quarter and that only 12 of them were related to farmers. 'And out of those 12, only three of them were white. You clearly see that based on those statistics, and this was given to me by a farmer, a white farmer, and that to me speaks extreme volumes,' he said. Releasing the 2024/25 fourth quarter crime statistics a week ago, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu said there were 5,727 murders in the three months between January and March this year. He said six attacks on rural communities were recorded. 'In principle, we do not categorise people by race, but in the context of claims of genocide of white people, we need to unpack the killings in this category. The two farm owners who were murdered during the fourth quarter were African and not white. Further to that, the two farm employees and one farm manager were also African – it is the one farm dweller that was white,' added Mchunu. Turning to key matters of trade between the US and South Africa, Burns said: 'This is a nation that we need to continue to partner with, this is a nation that is one of our important partners on the continent of Africa and that we ought to continue to strengthen that relationship and to do whatever it takes to make sure that we have good trading deals with each other.' His message back in his country will be 'come to South Africa, invest in South Africa. We have so much that we are similar'. Burns said the purpose of that is to create jobs here in South Africa, to entice more American investors to invest in South Africa. He also acknowledged that the AGOA (Africa Growth and Opportunity Act) Forum, scheduled to be held in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, in July, would be difficult, especially after Trump imposed 31% tariffs on goods imported from South Africa in April. Burns warned South Africa against remaining a member of the BRICS bloc of countries, including Brazil, Russia, India, and China, as well as its newest members, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. 'BRICS is a challenge, though, that needs to be addressed, and if I were advising your President Ramaphosa to remove that 'S' from the title BRICS immediately,' he said. According to Burns, while BRICS was initially established to enable access to different markets, the country should declare to Vladimir Putin (the Russian president) that it will not be a party to the devaluation of the US dollar and introduce a separate currency. BRICS also includes Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, and Uzbekistan as partner countries.
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Supreme Court allows Trump to begin removing 500,000 immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela
The Supreme Court on Friday granted the Trump administration's request to categorically revoke humanitarian parole for more than 530,000 immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela and order them out of the country. The court did not explain its order staying a lower court decision that temporarily blocked the administration's abrupt policy change. In March, the Department of Homeland Security revoked protections for migrants from five countries issued by the Biden administration. The agency gave them 30 days notice to leave the country unless they had legal protection under another program. MORE: What the Constitution, Supreme Court say about 'due process' for Trump deportees: ANALYSIS A number of migrants and immigrant advocacy groups sued over the move, alleging that federal law did not give DHS Secretary Kristi Noem discretion to categorically eliminate humanitarian protections -- only to do so on a case-by-case basis. A federal district court agreed. The high court's decision means the Trump administration can move forward with it's policy change even as the litigation continues in lower courts on the merits. Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor dissented. Jackson, writing in opposition, accused the court's majority of callously "undervalu[ing] the devastating consequences of allowing the Government to precipitously upend the lives and livelihoods of nearly half a million noncitizens while their legal claims are pending. "Even if the Government is likely to win on the merits, in our legal system, success takes time," Jackson wrote, "and the stay standards require more than anticipated victory. I would have denied the Government's application because its harm-related showing is patently insufficient." Earlier this month, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to terminate "Temporary Protected Status" for approximately 350,000 Venezuelans who were protected from deportation and allowed to work in the United States. MORE: Supreme Court allows White House to end protections for 350K Venezuelans for now While the administration's moved to restrict immigration and turn away refugees from countries like Afghanistan and Haiti, it recently accepted white South African refugees -- prompting criticism. The administration's falsely claimed a genocide is taking place against white Afrikaner farmers, which South Africa's president pushed back on during a meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. Supreme Court allows Trump to begin removing 500,000 immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela originally appeared on
