The “Kill the Boer” chant by a leading South African politician is an actual call to kill off the country’s beleaguered white farmers, said South African professional boxer Chris van Heerden, who lost his father to anti-white violence in 2018.
“If we Dutch Boers had our own song that was similar to that song, I can guarantee you, we would be shot at for it,” Mr. van Heerden said in an interview on EpochTV’s “Crossroad.”
On July 29, the president of South Africa’s radical left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, Julius Malema, led a 95,000-strong crowd in chanting “Kill the Boer, kill the farmer” at the party’s 10th-anniversary celebration at a stadium in Johannesburg.
The Boers, also known as Afrikaners, are white South Africans who trace their ancestry to Dutch colonists who settled the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th century.
The New York Times covered the event in an apologetic light, claiming that the chant should not be taken literally and that those who do are amplifying misinformation from the far right.
“Right-wing commenters claim that an old anti-apartheid chant is a call to anti-white violence, but historians and the left-wing politician who embraces it say it should not be taken literally,” a report by theNew York Times states, accusing “people on the right ... including former President Donald J. Trump” of purportedly making the “false claim that there have been mass killings” against white farmers.
Not only the killings are real, he told host Joshua Philipp, but that the killers are incited by the genocidal rhetoric of “kill the Boer.”
“I live in America, but I still have fear that I’m soon going to get a phone call where I’m losing another family member,” the boxer said.
“The truth is: It’s happening in South Africa. If you really follow the news about what’s happening, you'll see that white farmers are being murdered by the thousands,” he continued, noting that some killers wrote the “Kill the Boer” slogan on the wall of the victims’ homes with the victims’ blood.
“How do you say that’s not in relation with the songs being sung by Julius Malema?”
Anti-Apartheid Battle Call or Hate Speech?
In its report, the New York Times also portrays “Kill the Boer” as something rooted in the historical struggle against the Apartheid regime.“It has been around for decades,” the newspaper told its readers. “One of many battle cries of the anti-apartheid movement that remain a defining feature of the country’s political culture.”
The song might be old, Mr. van Heerden said, but it was the Malema-led EFF that pushed the anti-white message to an extreme in the most recent 10 years.
“The EFF is only 10 years old. They’ve just celebrated their 10th anniversary,” he told Mr. Philipp. “In the last 10 years, when Julius Malema announced that he’s going to become really serious about politics, he started singing the song on a way more aggressive level.”
Originally the leader of the youth wing of Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress (ANC), Mr. Malema broke away in 2013 after the party suspended him for causing divisions. His new party, the EFF, has since emerged as a major challenger to the ANC, which has run the country for nearly 30 years since the end of Apartheid.
This wasn’t the first time that Mr. Malema or EFF members have chanted “Kill the Boer.” As ANC Youth League president, he would sing the song at youth league gatherings.
In 2011, after the white South African advocacy group AfriForum sued him in the country’s Equality Court, he was found guilty of hate speech.
More recently, in 2020, Mr. Malema and the EFF were sued again by AfriForum after EFF supporters chanted “Kill the Boer” outside a courthouse in the wake of the torture and murder of 21-year-old farm manager Brendin Horner. The Equality Court, this time, ruled that “Kill the Boer” is not hate speech.
A Voice for Millions Living in Fear
“I just got back from South Africa two weeks ago, being around my friends and family. They live in fear,” Mr. van Heerden said.“We are outnumbered. We cannot fight back. It’s a battle we will never win, so that’s not even an option for us,” he told Mr. Philipp, adding that to leave the country isn’t any more feasible, either, considering the economy and how hard it is to get foreign visas.
“These people, including my family, live in fear. They live in daily fear,” he continued. “South African Boer are reaching out to me [on social media], saying, ‘Please, Chris. You are in America. You are the closest thing to having a little bit of a voice.’”
The boxer moved on to clarify that he has forgiven his father’s killer and that he is not trying to spread anger or hate. “But I’m calling for help,” he said. “I’m calling for something that can make Julius Malema be held accountable for what he is motivating.”
“His followers are taking [the song] seriously. Go look at them. They’re saying,‘ Yep, you better leave because we’re coming for all of you guys.’ They’re saying that.”
