[ChildOfTheDamned]

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Polit ... e-20110221

The ANC is to apply for leave to intervene in the hate speech case brought by AfriForum against ANC Youth League president Julius Malema.

ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe on Monday said the application would be heard in the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

"Yes we are intervening because songs of liberation are not a Malema issue," Mantashe said.

"The songs are at the heart of what we [the ANC] stood for and what we fought for. It's dishonouring our heritage. We can't pretend it is a Malema issue, the songs are older than him."

Surprised

AfriForum on Monday said it was surprised by the ANC's decision to apply for leave to intervene.

"It is shocking that the ANC chose the same week in which high profile farm murders drew wide anger, to file their papers in support of the hate song," the organisation's lawyer Willie Spies said in a statement.

According to AfriForum, in his founding affidavit Mantashe submitted that the controversial song "Dubula iBhunu" [shoot the boer] was an "ANC song" which formed part of the "history of liberating South Africa from apartheid".

People were frustrated at the ANC government's inability to combat violent crime in general and farm murders in particular, said Spies.

The ANC had responded to this with a plea to protect hate songs from the struggle-era as part of its heritage and property.

"With hate songs as 'heritage' it is no surprise that the ANC's only legacy is anarchy, maladministration, corruption and violence," he said.

The case relates to Malema's repeated use of the term "shoot the boer".

The phrase was popularised by former ANCYL president Peter Mokaba at a memorial rally for slain anti-apartheid activist and SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani in Cape Town in 1993, months before South Africa held its first democratic elections in 1994.

In a separate case, Malema was found guilty of hate speech and harassment by the Equality Court in March last year over comments he made about President Jacob Zuma's rape accuser.

This case should set a precident one way or the other in SA.
The ANC does not want to ban this song, it is used by them at opportune times to increase racial tensions, which has the side effect of votes continueing to follow racial lines. Without "struggle" credentials, the party is nothing. It makes sense that they would want to ride the "revolution" as long as possible, but how long will the international community allow them to keep their "rainbow nation" image?

Here is the song. More of a mind numbing war chant actually:

Ayasab' amagwala (the cowards are scared)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
ayeah
dubula dubula (shoot shoot )
ayasab 'a magwala (the cowards are scared)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
awu yoh
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)

awe mama ndiyekele (mother leave me be)
awe mama iyeah (oh mother)
awe mama ndiyekele (mother leave me be)
awe mama iyo (oh mother)

aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)

Ayasab' amagwala (the cowards are scared)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot )
ayeah
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
ayasab 'a magwala (the cowards are scared)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
iii yoh
dubula dubala (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)

awe mama ndiyekele (mother leave me be)
awe mama iyo (oh mother)
awe mama ndiyekele (mother leave me be)
awe mama iyo (oh mother)

aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)

Ziyarapa lezinja (these dogs are raping)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
ay iyeah
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
Ziyarapa lezinja (these dogs are raping)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
ay iiiyo
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)

Aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
Aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
Aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
Aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)

Ayasab' amagwala (the cowards are scared)
Dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
Ay iyeah
Dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
Ayasab' amagwala (the cowards are scared)
Dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
Ay iyeah

[Goldberk]

How great it is to see the ANC slowly turn into a reactionary opressive political machine, exactly the thing they used to fight against.

[Kaspar]

How great it is to see the ANC slowly turn into a reactionary opressive political machine, exactly the thing they used to fight against.

That's taking it a little too far, this is just a song after all, and you do have to take into consideration that it's been less than two decades since South Africa's independence from Apartheid. Of course, it is hypocritical that such a song would be sanctioned by a party that espouses racial "equality", but like I said it is just a song, and there are other political parties legally operating in the system that are far more racist than the ANC.

[Goldberk]

That's taking it a little too far, this is just a song after all,

Unfortunately it’s not just the song, the corruption and cronyism that have become endemic within the ANC, the rampant misogynist language and behavior of the leading clique, the economic apartheid that keeps growing and almost no sustained commitment to widening the democratic traditions of South Africa.

and there are other political parties legally operating in the system that are far more racist than the ANC.

Quite right, but they do not have a monopoly on power like the ANC does.

[J Oswald]

The ANC is like every other African party in a poor - it seeks to consolidate its grip on power. They don't care about making the country better, else they would accept that a song like this just sets things back and refuse to use it. I hope that the ANC is disbanded one day; there are other parties in South Africa that actually try and work in the interests of the people.

[Kaspar]

Isn't that part of the nature of democracy though? Any political party wants to consolidate power, it's just that through seeking to consolidate their power, political parties ultimately are improving the country (since they are working in the interests of the people). Ultimately, the vast majority of South Africa is poor and relatively uneducated. If anything, the fact that the ANC continues to use this song is a representation of that demographic, which in turn is just a representation of the country itself. Ultimately, my point is that racial tension in the country won't be eroded through banning songs, symbols, or flags, but by bridging the nation's racial economic divide. Of course, the ANC is working very hard to try and bridge that gap, it's just a very difficult job and the ANC hasn't proven itself to be very adept at it. That is why I don't vote ANC. They're definitely trying, they just aren't very good at it.

[J Oswald]

Sure, every political party wants to consolidate power. The difference is, as you mentioned in your post, the vast majority of South Africa is poor and uneducated. If the voters are uneducated, they are essentially incapable of distinguishing whether a politician or party will act in their best interests, and are also much more likely to be taken in by tactics such as the ones the ANC use. If you look at all African "democracies," you will find that parties rarely get into power on the strength of their policies and their merits, as would be more likely in an educated society, but rather use cheap tricks and outright bribery.

As for the ANC trying to bridge the economic divide, I wouldn't be so sure. Why would a party that relies extensively upon the votes of the poor and uneducated try and educate their voters? That would be counterproductive from an electoral standpoint.