Where is Julius Malema?
2011-09-12 16:41
Johannesburg – ANC Youth League president Julius Malema was nowhere to be found as the High Court ruled that the singing of the song "dubhula ibhunu" constituted hate speech.
ANCYL general secretary Sandiso Magaqa said the league would study the judgment before responding.
Earlier, Judge Collin Lamont ruled in the South Gauteng High Court that the singing of the song "dubhula ibhunu" (shoot the boer) constituted hate speech.
"We will defend the heritage of the ANC," Magaqa said, stressing that there was no other response until lawyers had been consulted.
League spokesperson Floyd Shivambu and Magaqa ignored questions when asked where Malema was.
Some among the group outside said he was at the ANC's customary Monday national working committee meeting, while others suggested that he may be ill.
Malema's hearing was postponed on Sunday, to accommodate the hate speech judgment.
ANC spokesperson Keith Khoza said he did not know where Malema was.
ANC appalled
The ANC bemoaned the court ruling that translations of the words "shoot the boer" and "they are rapists" were hate speech.
"The ANC is appalled at the decision because we think the decision does not appreciate the history of the ANC and the history of the liberation movement," Khoza said.
"It also did not, in our view, take into account the context in which the songs were sung."
He said the ANC would carefully study the judgment and develop a full understanding of its implications before deciding how to proceed.
The words undermined the dignity of people and were discriminatory and harmful, said Judge Lamont.
"No justification exists allowing the words to be sung... the words were in any event not sung on a justifiable occasion."
AfriForum, whose youth wing brought the application against Malema at the Equality Court, were "overjoyed" at the ruling.
Ernst Roets, chairperson of AfriForum Youth at the time he laid the complaint, said the body were very happy with the ruling.
"We are grateful that the judge took a lot of effort to describe why and understand that a person is offended."
Malema was taken to court after singing "dubhula ibhunu".
Crowd sang "dubhula ibhunu"
AfriForum contended the words were threatening to minorities, and a threat to the safety of Afrikaners and farmers.
Outside the court, a crowd sang "dubhula ibhunu", in spite of Lamont saying that the courts could be approached again if there was contempt for his order.
"We are not scared," sang another group.
Malema and five other top league officials are defending themselves against disciplinary charges that they brought the ANC into disrepute.
On the first day of the hearing, groups of Malema supporters threw stones and bottles near ANC headquarters Luthuli House, in Sauer Street.
On Monday, three trailers of barbed wire, police cars and a riot truck set the scene, with black luxury sedans triple parked along the cordoned off section of the road.
However, the street was quiet, with drivers dozing off in their vehicles, and Luthuli House staffers going about their daily business.
Asked what he would do about people singing the song again, AfriForum lawyer Willie Spies said: "We will first wait for the dust to settle. You can't gauge it 10 minutes after the judgment."
- SAPA