EFF, DA React As Equality Court Finds Julius Malema Guilty of Hate Speech in 2022
- The Economic Freedom Fighters' president Julius Malema was found guilty of hate speech over remarks he made during a rally in 2022
- The Equality Court ruled on 27 August 2025 that Malema incited violence when he told supporters not to be afraid of killing
- The EFF reacted to the ruling and slammed it, while the Democratic Alliance welcomed the ruling
With over seven years at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News, Tebogo Mokwena, a Briefly News current affairs journalist, offered insights into South African politics, national, provincial, and local governance, the Government of National Unity, political parties, and Parliament.
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CAPE TOWN, WESTERN CAPE — The Equality Court in Cape Town, Western Cape, found Economic Freedom Fighter Julius Malema guilty of inciting violence when addressing EFF supporters in a rally in October 2022. The EFF and the Democratic Alliance (DA) reacted to the ruling.
According to News24, the South African Human Rights Commission and an individual, Dante Van Wyk, opened the case against Malema in 2022 after the EFF clashed with residents at Brackenfell High School two years before. The EFF accused the school of having a whites-only matric dance. During a rally in 2022, Malema told supporters that no white man is going to beat him.
He added that his supporters must not be scared to kill. Malema remarked that killing is part of a revolutionary act. In the same year, Afriforum took Malema to court for singing the Kill the Boer. He said in court that he was not afraid of killing, as killing is part of the revolutionary.
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SAHRC demands that the EFF apologize
The SAHRC received a slew of complaints from the public after Malema's speech and wrote to the party, instructing him to apologise and retract the statements. The EFF slammed the SAHRC. The party accused the SAHRC of incorrectly labelling what it considered political commentary in its metaphorical, literary, and historical sense.
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What did the Equality Court judge say?
Judge Mar Sher said that Malema demonstrated an intention to incite harm and promote or propagate hatred. Sher said that it was unacceptable to call someone to be killed because they are racist and acted violently. He called such action acts of vigilantism. He ruled that the EFF and Malema would be required to pay costs.
What did the EFF and the DA say?
The EFF rejected the ruling and said it would appeal. In a statement it posted on its @EFFSouthAfrica X account, the Red Berets called the ruling an attack on the democratic space and the right to articulate revolutionary politics. The Party said the interpretation of Malma's eotdfs as hate speech strips it of its political, historical, and ideological context.
"The EFF is a Marxist-Leninist and Fanonian movement, and therefore our analysis of society recognizes class and racial contradictions. When Malema spoke of war, it was a reference to the irreconcilable conflict between white supremacy and black consciousness, a war of ideas and systems, not an instruction to kill white people," the party said.
Read the X statement here:
The Democratic Alliance welcomed the ruling and commended the South African Human Rights Commission for pursuing the case. The DA called the ruling a victory for the rule of law, the constitution, and all South Africans who cherish the values of a free, fair, and non-racial society.
"This type of divisive language is not just damaging on a local level. It has international repercussions as well. South Afica's reputstion on the global stage is at risk when sucvh hatred is condo ed or ignored," the party said.
Kenny Kunene ordered to apologise to Malema
In a related article, Briefly News reported that the EFF celebrated as the Gauteng High Court upheld a ruling the Equality Court made in favour of Malema. The court had ordered Patriotic Alliance deputy president Kenny Kunene to apologise for calling Malema a cockroach.
The court ruled that Kunene committed hate speech when he called Malema a cockroach. He was ordered to issue Malema an apology.
Julius Malema says Phala Phala theft must not be forgotten
Briefly News reported that Julius Malema has vowed not to let the Phala Phala saga just be forgotten. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader made the promise while addressing supporters at the party’s 12th anniversary in Khayelitsha, Cape Town.
The Red Berets held its anniversary celebrations at the Khayelitsha Rugby Stadium on Saturday, 26 July 2025. Turning his attention to the theft from the president’s farm in Limpopo in 2020, Malema said the matter would be brought up in Parliament’s ad hoc committee investigating police corruption, adding that it was another example of police cover-ups.
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Proofreading by Kelly Lippke, copy editor at Briefly.co.za.
Source: Briefly News
