South African politician Julius Malema has once again landed in legal trouble, this time after a court ruled that fiery remarks he made at a 2022 rally amounted to hate speech.
The Equality Court on Wednesday declared Malema guilty over racially charged comments delivered during a political gathering where he urged supporters to embrace violence as part of revolutionary struggle.
“No white man is going to beat me up and (I) call myself a revolutionary the following day,” Malema told the crowd. “You must never be scared to kill. A revolution demands that at some point there must be killing because the killing is part of a revolutionary act.”
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This is not Malema’s first encounter with the courts over controversial speech. He was previously convicted for leading the apartheid-era chant “shoot the boer,” though that ruling was later overturned. The chant, historically aimed at South Africa’s white Afrikaner farmers, has long stirred fierce debate about race and violence in the country.
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Malema, who heads the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), has built his political brand on provocative rhetoric. His speeches have drawn international attention, including from U.S. President Donald Trump, who once played a video of Malema during a White House meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Trump used the clip to falsely suggest that South Africa’s government condoned the mass killing of white farmers to seize their land, however, the government has dismissed the claim as misinformation.
The EFF leader, though a lawmaker, does not hold a government post. Still, his words continue to spark outrage at home and abroad. This year alone, Malema was twice denied a U.K. visa due to his outspoken views, including vocal support for Hamas.
Equality courts in South Africa handle cases of discrimination, harassment, and hate speech. Penalties can range from public apologies to financial compensation or even criminal referrals.
Judges have yet to decide what punishment Malema will face following this latest ruling, AP reported.
READ ALSO: South Africa rejects U.S. human rights report as “inaccurate and deeply flawed”
