Would the Constitutional Court give the thumbs-up to songs about killing groups other than farmers?
30 March 2025 - 14:20
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EFF president Julius Malema sang the song Kill the Boer” during a rally in Sharpeville on Human Rights Day. Picture: FREDDY MAVUNDA/BUSINESS DAY
One way to evaluate whether the Kill the Boer song is hate speech is to find and replace the words “boer”/“farmer” with words that refer to different groups, and then reconsider the matter.
Consider words like “Asians”, “Buddhists”, “Christians”, “disabled”, “Europeans”, “foreigners”, “gays”, “homeless”, “immigrants”, “Jews”, “Muslims”, “queers”, “royalty”, “Shia”, “Tutsi”, “women”, “Xhosas” or “Zulus”.
Would any of these reworded songs get the thumbs-up from the Constitutional Court, or be considered hate speech?
Greg Becker Cape Town
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
LETTER: Find-and-replace hate speech
Would the Constitutional Court give the thumbs-up to songs about killing groups other than farmers?
One way to evaluate whether the Kill the Boer song is hate speech is to find and replace the words “boer”/“farmer” with words that refer to different groups, and then reconsider the matter.
Consider words like “Asians”, “Buddhists”, “Christians”, “disabled”, “Europeans”, “foreigners”, “gays”, “homeless”, “immigrants”, “Jews”, “Muslims”, “queers”, “royalty”, “Shia”, “Tutsi”, “women”, “Xhosas” or “Zulus”.
Would any of these reworded songs get the thumbs-up from the Constitutional Court, or be considered hate speech?
Greg Becker
Cape Town
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
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