Ramaphosa violates UN Genocide Convention by failing to condemn “Kill the Boer”
AfriForum says that the fact that President Cyril Ramaphosa once again refused yesterday to condemn the “Kill the Boer, kill the farmer” call for genocide and his indication that the government will not take action against Julius Malema for using this slogan is – according to the South African government’s own criteria for genocide – a gross violation of the Genocide Convention of the United Nations (UN).
AfriForum bases this statement on the evidence that advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, a member of South Africa’s legal team, led in the genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in January 2024. Ngcukaitobi argued on behalf of South Africa that “the intentional failure of the government of Israel to condemn, prevent and punish such genocidal incitement constitute in itself a grave violation of the Genocide Convention”.
Ngcukaitobi further argued that “this failure to condemn, prevent and punish such speech by the government has served to normalise genocidal rhetoric” and has posed “extreme danger for Palestinians within Israeli society”.
According to Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, the ANC-led government’s defence of the “Kill the Boer” slogan, while passing judgment about similar calls elsewhere in the world as an intent to commit genocide, is evidence of double standards in their interpretation of the Genocide Convention.
Kriel points out that farm murder deniers are now trying very hard to downplay the serious nature of farm murders after US President Donald Trump has rightly cast the international spotlight on farm attacks in South Africa. This downplaying is done, among other things, by ignoring the victims of farm murders and the torture that accompanies the attacks and instead focusing on a debate about the terminology that should be used to describe farm murders.
“AfriForum has always focused on the serious nature of farm murders rather than engaging in semantic debates about the term ‘genocide’ but believes it has now become necessary to test the actions of Ramaphosa’s government against their own standards regarding the meaning of genocide,” says Kriel.
According to Kriel, the South African government has shown in its case against Israel that the number of deaths is not crucial in the classification of genocide and that the focus should rather be on the specific wording of the UN’s Genocide Convention. The Convention’s definition of “genocide” determines, as the South African government also points out, that there must simply be an “intent to destroy” a group by, among other things, killings, bodily harm or mental harm.
Kriel furthermore states that Ramaphosa and his government’s failure to condemn the “Kill the Boer” slogan (which in terms of the UN Convention indicates very clear genocidal intent) amidst the reality of murders and torture and the calls for violence that lead to fear and mental harm among some, brands the South African government as a violator of the Genocide Convention.
