South African politician criticized by Trump is found guilty of hate speech

Economic Freedom Fighters party leader Julius Malema raises his fist at an election rally in Polokwane, South Africa, on May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — A South African politician accused by the Trump administration of being at the forefront of an anti-white movement was found guilty of hate speech Wednesday for race-fueled comments he made in 2022.

Julius Malema, who is the leader of a small opposition party, was found guilty by an equality court over comments he made at a political rally.

“No white man is going to beat me up and (I) call myself a revolutionary the following day,” Malema said at the rally. “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.”

Malema has previously been found guilty of hate speech in a separate case for repeating an apartheid-era chant at rallies that contains the words “shoot the boer.” The word boer refers to South Africa’s minority white Afrikaner farmers. The decision to find him guilty of hate speech in that case was later overturned.

Malema, who leads the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters party, featured prominently in a video U.S. President Donald Trump played in the Oval Office during a meeting with South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa in May. The video was used to confront Ramaphosa with false claims that the South African government was allowing the widespread killing of white farmers to seize their land.

That allegation is at the center of the Trump administration’s move to cut all financial assistance to South Africa over what it calls the Black-led government’s anti-white and anti-American policies. The South African government says the U.S. criticism is based on misinformation.

Malema, who is a lawmaker but not in government, has often been condemned in his own country for his political speech. He was twice denied a visa to travel to the U.K. this year because of his public statements, which include support for the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Equality courts in South Africa deal specifically with allegations of discrimination, hate speech and harassment based on race, gender or sexual orientation. They can order those found guilty to issue a public apology, pay compensation or recommend them for criminal prosecution. No order has yet been made over Malema’s punishment in the latest case.