By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Constitutional Court dismissed Afriforum’s attempt to reverse an earlier SCA judgment which found that the singing of the song ‘Dubul’ Ibhuni / Kill the Boer’ did not constitute hate speech.
In 2022, the Equality Court ruled that the anti-apartheid chant could not be considered hate speech and that its lyrics could not be interpreted literally, a ruling upheld by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in 2024.
The order on Thursday stated: “The Constitutional Court has considered the application for leave to appeal. It has concluded that the application should be dismissed as it bears no reasonable prospects of success. Leave to appeal is refused.”
Reacting to the order, AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel said in a statement that they had been under the impression that the Constitution and the Constitutional Court would protect human rights, including those of Afrikaners.
“After this shocking court ruling, we see that this is no longer the case. We are seeing an increasing radical implementation of the Constitution. We see an increase in ideologically-driven judges,” he claimed, without providing evidence to this effect.
“However, we are not going to become discouraged.”
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) slammed AfriForum’s “baseless and reactionary attempt” to have the song declared unlawful.
The EFF also criticised the organisation for pushing a “false narrative of white victimhood”.
“Their efforts to criminalise a liberation song, one deeply rooted in the fight against the brutal regime that oppressed Black people for decades, are part of their broader project to rewrite history, erase their own crimes, and paint themselves as victims.”
“The party further said the ConCourt’s ruling has “shut the door permanently on this absurd and opportunistic legal campaign”.
Meanwhile Afriforum conceded that the statistics on farm murder in South Africa are accurate, according to Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni.
This follows a recent meeting between AfriForum, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, and the South African Police Service (Saps) officials after the organisation initially rejected the police’s third-quarter crime statistics.
AfriForum had argued that farm murders — especially those involving farm owners — were under-reported.
However, the statistics revealed that out of 6 953 reported murders, 12 were classified as farm murders, with one victim being a farmer.
This led Mchunu to instruct Saps’ crime registrar to verify a list of farm attacks submitted by AfriForum.
Ntshavheni expressed concern over what she called “misinformation campaigns” by AfriForum, trade union Solidarity, and their allies.
The minister seemingly referenced the treason investigation being conducted by the Hawks, stating that the authorities were probing possible law violations.
“To prevent further misinformation, the South African Police Service met with AfriForum to clarify the allegations of white genocide with reference to farm murders,” she said.
However, AfriForum Kriel denied Ntshavheni’s claims.
“The minister is blatantly lying; we never conceded that. In fact, we gave the police our statistics.
“But if they can lie about the statistics then they can probably also lie regarding what happened at the meeting,” Kriel said on Thursday.