THE launch of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) last weekend saw its more formal message of radical socialism somewhat undermined by a banner which read: "A revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate."
Good on them for qualifying "hate" in this way. The last thing anyone wants is a "cold killing machine" motivated by "partial hate".
It was reportedly accompanied by other likeminded messages, such as: "We need to kill them like they killed us." Advertising professionals call this a "brand problem"; the EFF said they were a "great disappointment".
Either way, they would seem to represent an authentic (and hateful) impulse underpinning EFF support.
An impulse EFF "commander-in-chief", Julius Malema, manages to galvanise so effectively with his particular brand of charismatic demagoguery. But hateful threats are not particular to the EFF. No, the scene for violent political rhetoric has been well set by the alliance over the past few years and, as if to show it can walk the talk, has been accompanied by much actual violence, as African National Congress (ANC) members continue to brutalise and kill each other in record numbers.
So, as South African "debate" becomes increasingly infused with death and blood, it is worth looking at some of the more infamous violent political slogans to have made headlines over the past five years. Here, then, in no particular order, are the top ten violent and hateful political slogans from recent times:
1. "A revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate."
RESPONSIBLE:EFF
BACKGROUND:The content of what appears to be an official banner from the EFF launch on October 13. Certainly one planned, printed and paid for. It is when you imagine the mechanics behind the creation of such a product, it becomes really chilling. There would have had to have been a discussion about the slogan, the words agreed to after some debate, a design request sent to the printers, paid for an collected in order to be proudly displayed.
REACTION:"We want to put it on record that we distance ourselves from such conduct but also that we have since discovered who was behind that," EFF Gauteng spokesperson Patrick Sindane.
2. "There will be blood in the courtroom if they reinstate the charges."
RESPONSIBLE: The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu)
BACKGROUND: Said on February 20 2007, by Cosatu’s KwaZulu-Natal regional branch in response to the possibility the National Prosecution Authority (NPA) might reinstitute charges of fraud and corruption against the then-ANC Deputy President Jacob Zuma.
REACTION: None.
3. Free State University vice-chancellor Jonathan Jansen should be "shot and killed" because "he is a racist".
RESPONSIBLE: The ANC Youth League
BACKGROUND: Said by Free State youth league chairperson Thebe Meeko in October 2009. Meeko’s full remarks were: "Like President Jacob Zuma when he said the police must meet fire with fire, the shoot-to-kill approach must also apply to all the racists, including Jansen — because he is a racist." The Democratic Alliance laid a charge of hate speech. The comments was sparked by the "Reitz four" incident, when four University of the Free State students demeaned and humiliated a group of black university employees while making a video.
REACTION: "He never said he must kill a person. I spoke to him. He was talking about racism," ANC Youth League spokesperson Floyd Shivambu.
4. "…because Jacob Zuma is one of us, and he is one of our leaders, for him, we are prepared to lay our lives and to shoot and kill."
RESPONSIBLE: Cosatu
BACKGROUND: Speaking on June 16 2008, newly appointed ANC Youth League president Julius Malema has said: "We are prepared to take up arms and kill for Zuma". Not to be outdone, Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi would follow suit, at the funeral of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union’s vice president and ANC veteran Pretty Shuping on June 21. Vavi’s more recent criticisms of Zuma suggest his attitude has changed somewhat, and he has reportedly received death threats himself.
REACTION: Vavi ignored a complaint laid with the Human Rights Commission (HRC) but did later state: "I was merely stating a principle that comrades should be ready to defend one another and, when necessary, that may involve killing. I understand that the word ‘killing’ jars some people’s sensitivities and that I regret."
5. ANC stalwart and former Education Minister Kader Asmal must "go to the nearest cemetery and die".
RESPONSIBLE: The uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association (MVA)
BACKGROUND: Said in October 2009 in response to various public criticisms made by Asmal about Zuma’s administration. Not an outright threat of violence, but against the EFF’s "pure hate" principle, it would seem to qualify.
REACTION: "The ANC has spoken to us. It’s unfortunate if we were harsh. If we need to retract that part of the statement we will respect the decision of the ANC," MKMVA chairman Kebby Maphatsoe.
6. "Kill the boer, kill the farmer."
RESPONSIBLE: Numerous
BACKGROUND: Reminiscent of the Azanian People’s Liberation Army chant, "One settler, one bullet", perhaps modern South Africa’s most infamous violent slogan, said by many since 1994. ANC Youth League president Peter Mokaba first reinvigorated the slogan at a political rally following the assassination of the ANC leader Chris Hani. In February 2004, the slogan would surface again. This time, members of the tripartite alliance — particularly, the ANC and Cosatu — appearing outside the trial of Mark Scott-Crossley. Finally, Malema would become inextricably associated with the slogan, as he repeatedly made use of it during the last 2000s, despite court rulings against its promotion.
REACTION: The ANC and its youth league have repeatedly defended the term as metaphorical and part of the ANC’s history. Cosatu spokesperson has said: "We have made it quite clear that ‘kill the boer, kill the farmer’ is not and was never a Cosatu slogan".
7. "You must kill the bastards."
RESPONSIBLE: South African Police Service
BACKGROUND: Directed to the police service and said by then deputy minister of safety and security Susan Shabangu, in April 2008 responding to questions by residents in Pretoria West, who were complaining about poor police performance. A fuller excerpt reads: "I won’t tolerate any pathetic excuses for you not being able to deal with crime. You have been given guns, now use them. I want no warning shots. You have one shot and it must be a kill shot."
REACTION: "Government’s position is that every action taken by the police must happen within the regulatory framework, so there is no possibility that the police can be expected to operate outside the law," government spokesperson Themba Maseko.
8. "DA mischievous to visit Nkandla they will die KZN akudlawa pha and they must die like cockroaches!!!"
RESPONSIBLE: South African Student Congress Organisation (Sasco)
BACKGROUND: Said in November 2012, by former Sasco Nelson Mandela Metro University leader Sitha Gqoma, on Twitter. During the Rwandan genocide, Tutsis were referred to as "cockroaches".
REACTION: After a DA complaint was laid with the HRC, Gqoma issued a formal apology.
9. "… as Sasco we support and sing with our president Malema when he sings ‘kill the boer, kill the racist’."
RESPONSIBLE: Sasco
BACKGROUND: A November 2012 poster put up at the Cape Town and Bellville campuses of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Elsewhere it read: "We as Sasco lament with all words possible the racism coupled with white tendencies in the faculty of engineering, and we further say that those white pigs must leave."
REACTION: "We are of the view that this is a concerted effort to dent our image as an organisation. We distance ourselves completely from that poster," Sasco provincial chairman Sello Nkhatho
10. "Awuleth’ Umshini Wami."
RESPONSIBLE: President Jacob Zuma
BACKGROUND: In English it means "bring me my machine gun" and is the title of the cry that has been Zuma’s rallying song at nearly every party political gathering he has attended. Once Zuma was even joined in its singing by a gospel choir after a church service in his honour. When the song was used by those people who brutalised foreigners during South Africa’s recent spate of xenophobic attacks in May 2008, Zuma said: "Umshini wami belongs to the ANC. Who are these people abusing this song while they are doing wrong things." Witnesses, however, were reported as saying: "When (Zuma) was campaigning to become president of the ANC, he said he would get rid of all the foreigners."
REACTION: Zuma has repeatedly denied that the song is, in any way, intended to invoke violence.
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