United States US President Donald Trump has wondered why South Africa wont arrest Economic Freedom Fighters EFF leader Julius Malema for chanting Kill the Boer , kill the farmer.
He asked President Cyril Ramaphosa this question during their meeting at the White House on Wednesday 21 May.
Trump had earlier asked his White House staff to play videos of Malema making the controversial chant at various political rallies, ostensibly as proof of incitement against Afrikaner farmers.
There is no evidence that the chant has directly incited racially motivated farm attacks in South Africa.
Ramaphosa distances government from chantIn response to the videos, Ramaphosa said the government and the African National Congress ANC have denounced the chant. He added that in 1955, anti-apartheid activists adopted the Freedom Charter that says South Africa belongs to all who live in it.
Then why wont you arrest that man? Trump interjected. That man said, Kill the white farmers, and then hes dancing. If someone got up in Parliament and started saying, Kill a certain group, he would be arrested very quickly.
Trump also disputed the EFFs characterisation as a small party, adding, That was a stadium that holds 100,000 people and I hardly saw an empty seat. Thats a lot of people. Thats a lot of representation.
In March, the Constitutional Court refused to hear an appeal by civil society group AfriForum against an Equality Court ruling that the chant does not constitute hate speech.
The Constitutional Court ruling is a victory for truth, for historical justice and for the freedom to commemorate our fight against oppression, the EFF said at the time.
The chant was used during the anti-apartheid struggle.