Julius Malema says no white farmer must be killed and that ‘Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer’ was never meant in a literal sense

EFF leader Julius Malema said no white farmer must be killed and that ‘Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer’ was never meant in a literal sense.

He discussed farm murders and the brutal attack on Donovan Marx during an EFF rally on 31 October 2026 at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto.

“Comrades, the chant, ‘Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer,’ was never meant in a literal sense. We never called for the literal killing of human beings,” he said.

“We will never call for the literal killing of human beings. The killing on the farms of our own farmers must stop.”

He questioned what kind of human being would kill another by shooting them, stabbing them, and then cutting off their ears.

“We never promote the killing of white farmers or black farmers. How can we kill the people who are feeding us?” he asked.

“Those people who have killed that farmer in Ventersdorp must be brought here to Orlando Stadium. We want to teach them a lesson because the police have failed them.”

He called on the police to find the people who committed that crime and bring them to the party. “The EFF will teach them a lesson,” he said.

He added that the continued killing of white farmers feeds into the wrong narrative that there is a white genocide in South Africa.

He said that it was absolute nonsense that there was a white genocide in South Africa and that the narrative does damage to the country.

“It must stop, and it must stop now. No white farmer must be killed. No black farmer must be killed. No woman must be killed,” he said.

“South Africa must be a peaceful place for all to live in. This government and national unity have failed to protect the rural and farm communities,” he said.

“We must never allow a historical liberation chant to be used as a scapegoat for the failure to protect farmers and farm workers.”

After the speech, Malema continued to sing the controversial ‘Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer’ chant.

“Shoot to kill, nyamazane. Shoot to kill. Prrrr Pah. Pah. Prrrr Pah. Pah,” he sang in front of a large crowd at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto.

‘Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer’ is hate speech

Advocate Mark Oppenheimer said that the chant ‘Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer’ is a textbook example of hate speech.

Oppenheimer is one of South Africa’s most respected legal experts and has appeared in the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court.

He is also the president of the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) and an executive director of the Free Speech Union of South Africa.

He is, therefore, well positioned to comment on what is protected speech and what constitutes illegal hate speech.

Section 16 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa enshrines the freedom of expression under Chapter 2, the Bill of Rights.

It guarantees everyone the right to freedom of expression, encompassing media freedom and the freedom to receive or impart information.

However, Oppenheimer highlighted three limitations on freedom of expression under South Africa’s Constitution.

These are propaganda for war, the incitement of imminent violence, and hate speech, which advocates hatred on the grounds of race, gender, ethnicity, and religion.

South Africans also cannot hide behind freedom of speech when what they say constitutes an incitement to cause harm.

Oppenheimer argued that the most economical way of demonstrating hate speech is to target a group and call for them to be killed.

“I am going to pick a group, Afrikaners, I’m going to say that they deserve death, and I’m going to call on people to kill them,” he said.

He said that it is an obvious example of hate speech, and that is where the ‘Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer’ chant crosses the line.

“When you have someone like EFF leader Julius Malema calling on people to be killed, well, now it’s not just information,” he said.

“It’s encouraging people to go and perform real-world violence, and therefore, you can put a limit on it.”

He cited the situation where Malema chanted ‘Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer’ in a stadium full of people, adding that people must ‘shoot to kill’.

“When I cross-examined him and asked him who he was referring to when he said ‘farmer’, he said that he was thinking about a ‘white person’,” Oppenheimer said.

He added that when Malema was given the opportunity to pledge that he would never call for the slaughter of white people, he refused.

Oppenheimer also differs from the court rulings, which said that the chant was merely a protest song.

He criticises the Supreme Court of Appeal and Constitutional Court for refusing to hear or overturn the ruling.

He said it was evidence of a political double standard where high-profile politicians escape hate speech liability while ordinary citizens face legal consequences.