Malema Found Guilty of Hate Speech Over Brackenfell Remarks

The Equality Court has ruled that Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader, Julius Malema, is guilty of hate speech over comments he made in 2022 at the party’s 3rd Provincial People’s Assembly in the Western Cape.

The case stems from violent clashes between EFF members and community members at Brackenfell High School in November 2020, following allegations of racism linked to a private matric farewell held during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In his 2022 address, Malema allegedly questioned why a white individual involved in the incident had not been “located and taken to an isolated space” where EFF supporters could “attend to him properly.” He went on to tell party members that they should “never be scared to kill,” describing killing as part of a revolutionary act.

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) received numerous complaints at the time, demanding a retraction. The EFF, however, refused to withdraw the remarks within the 10-day period it was given.

Delivering its ruling this week, the Equality Court found that Malema’s statements amounted to an incitement to violence and specifically encouraged the killing of white men linked to the Brackenfell episode.

The EFF has strongly condemned the judgment, describing it as “an attack on democratic space and the right to articulate revolutionary politics.”

In a statement on social media platform X, the party said: “The language of revolution cannot be sanitised to comfort the sensitivities of those who continue to enjoy the fruits of colonial dispossession. The real violence is the daily reality of landlessness, unemployment, and racism that black people endure.”