The leader of the governing African National Congress' youth wing was in court Monday, at the start of a closely watched trial pitting his right to sing a song from the apartheid era against concern it heightens racial tension in South Africa.
AfriForum, which portrays itself as an advocate for white South Africans of Dutch descent, said Julius Malema's repeated singing of "Shoot the boer" portrays all whites as enemies who should be shunned or even killed. Boer, "farmer" in the language of the Dutch descendants known as Afrikaners, is sometimes used as an insult for whites.
Some of the testimony during Monday's court hearing was broadcast live across South Africa, a measure of the extent to which issues of race and racism still touch nerves 17 years after apartheid ended.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, a leader of the ANC's radical wing, was in court to support Malema, who was accompanied to the court house by body guards armed with rifles and supporters who cheered, whistled and sang out, "My president!"
Sifiso Ntuli, a musician who has researched the songs that rang out at anti-apartheid protests over the decades, said "Shoot the boer" was never intended to incite violence, and should be heard metaphorically. Ntuli said he's sung it with white friends who share his politics.
"It means, `Get rid of oppression,'" Ntuli said. "'Boer' means oppression, in the South African context."
The ANC argues banning the song
留言列表
